I LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 

GT;nji (Bopijra^t |o..l..:.. 

Shelf ! 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. I 



DAILY STEPS UPWARD 



SELECTED READINGS FOR 
EVERY DAY IN THE YEAR 




NEW YORK HI 1$ I 

ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH & COMPANY 
(incorporated) 
182 Fifth Avenue 




Copyright, 1881, 
By Anson D. F. Randolph & Company. 



Copyright, 1892, 
By Anson D. F. Randolph & Company. 

(INCORPORATED.) 



John Wilson and Son, Cambridge. 



HE design of this cluster of selections is to so 



bring before the eye a daily Scripture text and 
selections of poetic gems, that they may be easily 
memorized, and thus aid in making the daily steps 
of life tend ever upward. 

" Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all 
wisdom ; teaching and admonishing one another in 
psalms and hymns and spiritual songs." — Col. iii. 16. 




Esemee. 



JANUARY 1. 



TREAD softly, slowly, thoughtfully, 
On the threshold of the year ; 
March onward bravely, manfully, 
Till in glory thou appear. 

H. P. SWEETSER. 

Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel, and 
afterward receive me to glory. _ 



" Another year, with all its hopes and fears, 
Has sunk into the deep abyss of time ; 
And on the threshold of the new we stand, 
Like travelers to a strange and distant clime/ 



JANUARY 2. 



Q H -' for the New Year, a new heart— 
A fresh leaf in the Book of Life ! 
May the old sins be all erased, 
The old contentions be effaced. 

From the German, 



A new heart also will I give you. 

Ezek. xxxvi. 26. 



For the New Year no Father new— 
Still the same God all worlds doth hold ! 

From the German 



JANUARY 3. 



OWIFT years ! but teach me how to bear, 
^ To feel and act with strength and skill, 
To reason wisely, nobly dare, 

And spend your courses as ye will, 

Andrews Norton. 

So teach us to number our days, that we may 
apply our hearts unto wisdom. 

rjr J PS. XC. 12. 

Nay, be they many, be they few, 
My thought but holds the end in view : 
And fills each day's full measure up 
With service sweet and patient hope. 

Mrs. Helen E Brown, 



JANUARY 4. 



gUT think not thou, by one wild bound, to 
clear 

The numberless ascensions, more and more, 
Of starry stairs that must be climbed, before 
Thou comest to the Father's likeness near. 

George Macdonald. 

To them who by patient continuance in well 
doing, seek for glory, and honour, and immor- 
tality ; eternal life. 

Rom. ii. 7. 

Heaven is not reached at a single bound, 
But we build the ladder by which we rise 
From the lowly earth to the vaulted skies, 

And we mount to its summit round by round. 

J. G. Holland 



JANUARY J. 



I 



STEADIER step when I recall 
That, if I slip, Thou dost not fall. 



A. H. Clough. 



Hold up my goings in Thy paths, 
footsteps slip not. 



He will never leave His own, 
Never let them suffer harm ; 

All the way to Him is known, 
Strong is His encirling arm ! 



N. F. Carter. 



JANUARY 6. 



T SEE not a step before me, 

And I would not if I could, 
For I know that to those whom Jesus loves, 
There can happen only gooH. 



F. J. D. 



The steps of a good man are ordered by the 
Lord. 

Ps, xxxvii. 23. 



Lo ! as I kneel, at His feet humbly bowed, 
My pathway is shown through a break in the 
cloud, — 

No road stretching far, the horizon to meet, 
Only one step, lying close at my feet. 

The Olive Leaf. 



JANUARY 7. 




WO ways to walk has man been given ; 
Teach me the right —the path to heaven ! 



Anon., from the German. 



Ye shall not turn aside to the right hand or 
to the left. deut. v. 32. 



The straightest way perhaps which may be 
sought 

Lies through the great highway men call / 
ought. 

Disciples' Hymn-book. 



JANUARY 8. 



gREAK my hard heart, 
Jesus my Lord, 
In the inmost part 
Hide Thy sweet word. 

Rev. R. M. M'Cheyne. 

Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that 1 
ight not sin against Thee. 

Ps. cxix. n. 



The seed Thou'st given — Thy word ; 

O let its growing be 
Seen, wonderful and fair, 

A life for Thee. 

Mrs. Bkssie H. Tobey. 



JANUARY 9. 



OTHOU that sittest in heaven, and seest 
My deeds without, my thoughts within, 
Be Thou my prince, be Thou my priest- 
Command my soul, and cure my sin. 

John Quarles. 

Let the wicked forsake his way, and the un- 
righteous man his thoughts: and let him return 
unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him. 

Is. lv. 7. 



When on my aching, burdened heart 

My sins lie heavily, 
My pardon speak, new peace impart, 

In love remember me ! 

Thomas Haweis. 



JANUARY 10. 



By Thee my soul is held ! 
By all Gethsemane s agony and grief 
United, joined, and naught can break the weld 
But my own want of faith — my unbelief. 

S. T. Clark. 

Being justified freely by His grace through the 
redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God 
hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith 
in His blood. 

Rom. iii. 24, 25. 

Now he who with one act of faith 
Shall penitently say, 
" I look for pardon through Thy blood/' 
Is saved ; saved now ; alway. 

Rev. N. Adams, D.D 



JANUARY 11. 



C^OULD any sin survive and be forgiven, 
J One sinful wish would make a hell of 
heaven. 

Hartley Coleridge. 



Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths ot 
the sea. 



Micah vii. 19. 



Man-like is it to fall into sin, 
Fiend-like is it to dwell therein, 
Christ-like is it for sin to grieve, 
God-like is it all sin to leave. 

Friedrich von Logan. 



JANUARY 12. 



the swelling tide of my full heart's brim 
Come sweet and holy thoughts of Him 
Who said, " What thou knowest not now, while 
here, 

Shall be made hereafter plain and clear." 

Perlk Sey. 

What I do thou knowest not now ; but thou 
shalt know hereafter. 

John xiii. 7. 



I may not understand 

The way I go, 
The perfect day will come, 

Then I shall know ! 



H. W. C 



JANUARY 13. 



TTAVE you never felt the pleasure 
Of forgiving fraud and wrong, 
Rippling through your soul like measure 
Sweet of sweetest poet's song? 

Reverberations. 

e ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, 
r iving one another. 

1 D Eph. iv. 32. 

For still in mutual sufferance lies 

The secret of true living; 
Love scarce is love that never knows 

The sweetness of forgiving. 

J. G. Whither. 



JANUARY 14 



iUAN S forgiveness may be true and sweet 
But yet he stoops to give it. More complete 
Is Love that lays forgiveness at thy feet, 
And pleads with thee to raise it. 

Adelaide Procter. 



He delighteth in mercy. 

Micah vii. 18. 



Kind hearts are here ; yet would the tenderest 



one 



Have limits to its mercy : God has 



none. 

Adelaide Procter. 



JANUARY \S. 



\ S body when the soul has fled, 
x As barren trees, decayed and dead, 
Is faith, — a hopeless, lifeless thing, 
If not of righteous deeds the spring. 

Drummond. 



For as the body without the spirit is dead, sc 
faith without works is dead also. 

James ii. 26. 



Make us eternal truths receive, 
And practice all that we believe. 

John Dryden. 



JANUARY 16. 



j^NGRACIOUS heart !— to wound with hes- 
itation 

Such love ! to hear the call 
Homeward, without one rapturous exultation,— 
" Willing "—and that was all ! 

Margaret J. Preston. 



Be ye reconciled to God. 

2 Cor. v ao. 



And He says to each, "Thou rebellious child, 
I beseech thee this night to be reconciled ! 99 

A. A. 



JANUARY 17. 



I 



SAID, This task is keen- 
But even while I spake, Thou, Love Divine, 
Didst stand behind, and gently overlean 
My drooping form. 



Dora Greenwell. 



The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day oi 
trouble, and He knoweth them that trust in Him. 

Nahum i. 7. 



Perchance — He knows — canst thou not trust 
His love? 



Anna C. Brackeit. 



JANUARY 18. 



gAFE in the shelter of Thy love I rest, 

And there, by naught disturbed, b> 
naught distressed, 
Vainly the world's wide waves of trouble roar- 
In vain they surge on sorrow's distant shore. 

T. D wight Crane. 

For Thou hast been a shelter for me. 

Ps. lxi. 3. 

Courage, O faithful heart ; 

Steadfast for ever ! 
In the eternal love 

Faltering never. 

W. E. LiTTLEWOOD. 



JANUARY 19. 



T AM the end of love '.—give love to me ! 

A 0 thou that sinnest, grace doth more abound 

Than all thy sin ! Mks e b . Bkowothg . 



But where sin abounded, grace did much more 
abound. RoM- v< n 



V or love sees nothing but your penitence. 
Come as you are, and for a better dress 
I'll give the garment of my righteousness. 

William Xorkis Buke. 



JANUARY 20. 



^ND man, whose heaven-erected face the 
smiles of Love adorn, — 
Man's inhumanity to man makes countless thou- 
sands mourn ! 

Robert Burns, 



Ye yourselves are taught of God to love one 
another, 

i Thess. iv. g. 



Love that is to mortals given 
Struggles with imperfect will ; 

Love alone that homes in heaven 
Can its perfect self fulfill. 

Charles H. Hitchings. 



JANUARY 21. 



MAKE me like a little child. 
Simple, teachable, and mild ; 
Seeing only in Thy light ; 
Walking only in Thy might ! 

Rev. Johh Berridge. 



us walk in the light of the Lord, 

Is, 11. 5. 



Oh ! in Thy light, be mine to go ? 
Illuming all my way of woe ; 
And give me ever on the road, 
To trace Thy footsteps, O my God ! 

Authur Cleveland Ccxe. 



JANUARY 22. 



/^\F your gladness lend a gleam 

Unto souls that shiver ; 
Show them how dark Sorrow's stream 
Blends with Hope's bright river. 

Lucy Larcom. 

Ye should shew forth the praises of Him who 
who hath called you out of darkness into His 
marvellous light. 

i Peter ii. 9. 

Make me as one that casteth not by day 
A dreary shadow, but reflecting aye 
One little beam, loved- warmed and golden, 
caught 

From the bright sun that lights our daily way. 

Julia P. Boynton. 



JANUARY 23. 



\\ ORK away ! 
All the ends you cannot see : 
Do your duty faithfully — 

Just obey ! 



A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of 
the Lord your God. Deut a tj 



Do thy duty ; that is best, 
Leave unto thy Lord the rest ! 

Henry W. Longfellow. 



JANUARY 24. 



HAT doest thou ? Go on thy way, 
Thy work thy Lord providing, 
Thy strength conferring day by day, 
Thy steps His Spirit guiding. 

George H. Babcock 




will be our guide even unto death. 

Ps. xlviii. 14, 



O Master, let me walk with Thee 
In lowly paths of service free ; 
Tell me Thy secret ; help me bear 
The strain of toil, the fret of care. 

Rev. Washington Gladden. 



JANUARY 25. 



T^vON'T do right unwillingly 
^ And stop to plan and measure ; 
Tis working with the heart and soul 
That makes our duty pleasure. 



Phebe Cary. 



Serve Him with a perfect heart and with a 
willing mind. ... 

! CHRON. XXV1U. 9. 



: With good-will doing service'' — 
A simple little phrase, 
And yet I often find it 
A help in weary days. 

Emilie Poulsson. 



JANUARY 26, 



JN Thy might all things I bear, 
In Thy love find bitter sweet, 
And, with all my grief and care, 
Sit in patience at Thy feet. 

A. H. Francks. 



I will look unto the Lord ; I will wait for the 
God of my salvation : my God will hear me. 

Micah vii. 7, 



For love is of the immortal, 

And patience is sublime, 
And trouble a thing of every day 

And touching every time. 

Mrs. M. E. Sangster. 



JANUARY 27. 



POOR human heart, with human needs, 
How many are its broken reeds, 
Grasped till the hand in torture bleeds ! 

Mrs. Elizabeth Oakes Smith. 



Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and 
stay upon his God. fo L jq 



When the glooms of grief o'ershade us, 
Thou hast known, and Thou wilt aid us ! 
To Thine own heart take the lonely, 
Leaning on Thee only, only. 

Francis T. Palgrave. 



JANUARY 28. 



/r J A HINK not thou canst sigh a sigh. 

And thy Maker is not nigh ; 
Think not thou canst weep a tear, 
And thy Maker is not near. 

William Blake. 



Put Thou my tears into Thy bottle : are they 
not in Thy book ? 



Ps. Ivi 8. 



For He hath saved thine every tearful prayer 
In His own lachrymal, and noted down 
Each unconsidered grief with tenderest love. 

Martin F. Tup per. 



JANUARY 29. 



TTET the Christ is there, though we see Him 
* not, 

But only when sorrow lowers 
Wildest, we feel through the hollow dark 
A strange warm hand in ours. ^ r ^ 



Thou art near, O Lord. 

Ps. cxix. 151. 



If I may but touch the garment He wears, 
But touch His robe's hem as I kneel, 

These wounds from stonings of pitiless years, 
That instant of nearness will heal ! 

"Laura San fort* 



JANUARY 30. 



J^EST is not quitting 
This busy career ; 
Rest is the fitting 

Of self to one's sphere. 



Goethe. 



This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the 
weary to rest. 

Is. xxviii. 12. 



'Tis loving and serving 

The highest and best ; 
'Tis onward, unswerving : 

And this is true rest. 

GoETHft. 



JANUARY Jl. 



■ T IVE while you live," the Christian preach- 
er cries, 

" And give to God each moment as it flies." 

Philip Doddridge. 



And ye shall observe to do all the statutes 
and judgments which I set before you this day. 

Deut. xi. 32. 



Let each hour, each moment, find thee 
Doing still the task assigned thee. 

Caroline A. Mason. 



FEBRUARY 1. 



CLIMB and climb on, though believing 
But half in the progress I make, 
Yet sure of one thing— I am leaving 
The false, the known false, for truth's sake. 

Robert K. Weeks. 



Order my steps in Thy word. 

* Ps. cxix. 133, 



I step, I mount where He has led; 

Men count my haltings o'er ;— 
I know them, yet, though self I dread, 

I love His precept more. 

John Henry Newman, 



FEBRUARY 2. 



^REAT God! impress upon my heart, 
How holy, and how pure Thou art, 
And how depraved I am. 

David Cavan. 



The fear of the Lord is to hate evil. 

Prov. viii. 13. 



Oh make my soul detest all ill, 
Because so much abhorred by Thee. 

John Quarles. 



FEBRUARY 3. 



ASH me with Thy tears ! draw nig' 



* » That their salt may purify me ! 
Thou remit my sins who knowest 
All the sinning, to the lowest. 



Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, 
cleanse me from my sin. ps ] 



With guilt's defilement stained, without, wi 
How may I hope Thy cleansing grace to vs 
Because Thou saidst, " I have forgiven thy 




Margaret J. Preston. 



FEBRUARY 4. 



^pRUST His rich promises of grace, 

So shall it be fulfilled in thee ; 
God never yet forsook at need 
The soul that trusted Him indeed ! 

George Neumark. 



My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped. 

Ps. xxviii. 7. 



Be but faithful, that is all, 
Go right on, and close behind thee 
There shall follow still and find thee, 
Help, sure help. 

Arthur Hugh Clough. 



FEBRUARY J. 



ALAS ! this peevishness with good 
Is want of love of God ; 
Unloving thoughts within distort 
The look of things abroad. 

Frederick Wm. Faber, D.D. 



The foolishness of man perverteth his way 
and his heart fretteth against the Lord. 

Prov. xix. 3. 



Nor with thy share of work be vexed ; 
Though incomplete, and even perplexed, 
It fits exactly to the next. 

Adelaide Procter, 



FEBRUARY 6. 



TT 7HAT doest thou ? 0 weary one, 

So hastily despairing ? 
Thy work for God will not be done ; 
Whilst He for thee is caring. 

George H. Babcock. 

We command and exhort by our Lord Jesus 
Christ, that with quietness they work. 

2 Thess. iii. 12. 

Yet must we struggle on ; nor ever be 

Dismayed, despondent o'er endeavors crossed, 

The work wrought out with patience, silently, 
Is worth to every heart whate'er it cost. 

Josephine Pollard 



FEBRUARY 7, 



A ND prayer by patience worketh well 
Its own reward. 

Charles Lawrence Ford. 



Pray without ceasing. 

J i Thess. v. 17 



" Cease not to pray ; 
On Jesus as your all rely. 
Would you live happy— happy die ? 
Take time to pray." 



FEBRUARY 8. 



T ORD, I would fear Thee, though I feared 
not hell ; 

And love Thee, though I had no hopes ol 
heaven ! 

Santa Teresa. 



We love Him, because He first loved us. 

i Jo.'iN iv. 19. 



I love Thee, O my God, and still 

I ever will love Thee, 
Solely because my God Thou art 

Who first hast loved me. 

St. Francis Xavier 



FEBRUARY 9. 



* 1\ FAKE my mortal dreams come true 

With the work I fain would do ; 
Clothe with life the weak intent ; 
Let me be the thing I meant." 



The way of the Lord is strength to the ur> 



Yet when our duty's task is wrought 
In unison with God's great thought, 
The near and future blend in one, 
And whatso'er is willed is done. 

John G. Whittier. 



FEBRUARY 10. 



pULL oft, when in my heart was heard 

Thy timely mandate, I deferred 
The task imposed, from day to day ; 
But Thee I now would serve more strictly, if I 
may. 

William Wordsworth. 



For if our heart condemn us, God is greatei 
than our heart, and knoweth all things. 

i John iii. ao. 



Lord ! accept my poor endeavor, 

And assist Thy servant so, 
In well-doing to persevere, 

That more perfect I may grow. 

George Withes 



FEBRUARY 11. 



f^HRIST, who has been my perfect sun by 

^ day, 

Will be my star by night ; 
On my deep rest the Lord shall shine alway, 
An everlasting Light, 

B. Macandrew. 



Christ shall give thee light. 

° Etm. v. 14. 



Whether we sleep or wake, 

To Thee we both resign ; 
By night we see, as well as day. 

If Thy light on us shine. 

y J. ArsTiw 



FEBRUARY 12. 



Jh ACH sin I cast away shall make 
- My soul more strong to soar. 

T. H. Gill. 



Cast away from you all your transgressions. 

Ezek. xviii. 31, 



Father ! forgive the heart that clings 
Thus trembling to the things of time, 

And bid my soul, on angels' wings 
Ascend into a purer clime. 

Jane Roscoe, 



FEBRUARY 13. 



HE knee that Thou hast shaped shall bend 



x to Thee, 
The tongue which Thou hast tuned shall chant 

Thy praise. 

And Thine own image, the immortal soul, 

Shall consecrate herself to Thee forever. 



Consecrate yourselves to-day to the Lord. 



My spirit, soul, and body, Jesus, I give to Thee, 
A consecrated offering, Thine evermore to be ! 
Oh ! blissful self-surrender, to live, my Lord, by 



Now, Son of God, my Saviour ! live out Thy 




Christopher Smart. 



Ex. xxxii. 29. 



Thee, 



life in me. 



FEBRUARY 14. 



pray we oftentimes, mourning our lot, 
God in His kindness answereth not. 

Miss Mulock. 



If we ask any thing according to His will, He 
heareth us. 

i John v. 4. 



So cry we afterwards, low at our kneer,, 
Pardon those erring prayers, Father ! hear these 

Mis* Mnxocv 



FEBRUARY 1?. 



IjNTO the glory of Thy Holy Name, 
Eternal God ! whom I both love and fear, 

Here bear I witness that I never came 
Before Thy throne and found Thee loath to hear 



Thomas Elwood. 



Before they call, I will answer; and while 
they are yet speaking, I will hear. 

J Is. lxv. 24. 



Thine ears are set wide open evermore, 
Before we knock Thou comest to the door ; 
Thou art more prest to hear a sinner cry 
Than he is quick to climb to Thee on high. 

George Gascgixe. 



FEBRUARY 16. 



THERE is never sorrow of heart, 
That shall lack a timely end, 
If but to God we turn, and ask 
Of Him to be our friend. 

W. Wordsworth. 

But I am poor and sorrowful : let Thy salva 
tion, O God, set me up on high. 

Ps. lxix. 29. 

Though we pass through tribulation, 

All will be well ; 
Ours is such a full salvation, — 

All, all is well ! 

Mary Bowlw 



FEBRUARY 17. 



T EAVE self at home, and so be free 
^ To minister to others ; 
And of your heart desire to see 
How love can make men brothers. 

Rev. W. Poole Baifern. 



The Lord make you to increase and abound 
in love one toward another. 



i Thess. iii. 12, 



Is thy heart a living power ? 

Self-entwined its strength sinks low ; 
It can only live in loving, 

And by serving, love will grow. 

Mrs. Chart.bs. 



FEBRUARY 18. 



J^ORD, as silver purified, 

Thou hast with affliction tried. 

George Sandys 



Behold, I have refined thee, but not with sil- 
ver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affiic- 
tion. 

Is. xlviii. io. 



Be patient, suffering soul !— I hear thy cry. 
The trial fire may glow, but I am nigh. 
I see the silver, and I will refine 
Until my image shall upon it shine. 

H. W. C 



FEBRUARY 19. 



T WALK amid the darkness. My way I cannot 
see, 

But still I know it tendeth, O Father, unto 
Thee ; 

And so I'll journey onward, for Thou art lead- 
ing me. 

Lucy Wheelock. 

I will lead them in paths that they have not 
known : I will make darkness light before them. 

Is. xiii. 16. 

What though thou tread with bleeding feet 
A thorny path of grief and gloom, 

Thy God will choose the way most meet 
To lead thee heavenwards, lead thee home 

ZlHN. 



FEBRUARY 20. 



^\S[ E ask not Ien S th of da y s > n or ease, 

Nor gold ; but for Thy mercy's sake 
Give us Thy joy, surpassing these, 

Which the world gives not, nor can take. 

Mary Howitt. 



And your joy no man taketh from you. 

John xvi. 22. 



Earth's joy is alway lost in pain, 
'Tis higher joy that lives again. 

Mary B, Dodge. 



FEBRUARY 21. 



SUBDUED and instructed, at length to Thy 
will 

My hopes and my longings I fain would re. 
sign, 

O give me the heart that can wait and be still, 
Nor know of a wish or a pleasure but Thine ! 

R. Grant. 



Submit yourselves therefore to God. 

James iv. 7. 



Less, less of self each day, 
And more, my God, of Thee. 

HoRATIUS BONAR. 



FEBRUARY 22. 



JN the heart's depths, a peace serene and holy 
Abides, and when pain seems to have her 
will, 

Or we despair,— O, may that peace rise slowly, 
Stronger than agony, and we be still ! 

S. Johnson. 

My peace I give unto you, not as the world 

giveth, give 1 unto you. 

John xiv. 27. 

My peace I give thee— peace through all 

The agonies of life ; 
A calm, enduring sense of rest 

Through outward storm and strife. 

Charlotte Murray. 



FEBRUARY 2?. 



I 



T is a little thing to speak a phrase 
Of common comfort which by daily use 
Has almost lost its sense ; yet on the ear 
Of him who thought to die unmourned 'twill fall 
Like choicest music. Talf0 urd. 



Pleasant words are as an honey-comb, sweet 
to the soul. Pkov _ „ l 24 . 



It was only a glad " good-morning," 
As she passed along the way ; 

But it spread the morning's glory 

Over the livelong day. m 



FEBRUARY 24. 



thin k not that the seed is dead 
Which in the lonely place is spread , 
It lives, it lives — the spring is nigh, 
And soon its life shall testify. 

Bernard Barton. 

He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing pre 
cious seed, shall doubtless come again with re 
joking, bringing his sheaves with him. 

Ps. oxxvi. 6. 

And thy reward is sure ; 
In heaven's own light the seed in weakness sown, 
Thine eyes shall see to plenteous harvests grown, 

And canst thou ask for more ? 

Mrs. M. S. Cornino. 



FEBRUARY 2>. 



TAKE, take me,, O my Father, 
And guide as Thou seest best ; 
For only in yielding my will to Thine 
Can my spirit hope for rest." 



For this God is our God, for ever and ever 
He will be our guide even unto death. 

Ps. xlviii. 14- 



The beckoning of a Father's hand we follow 
His love alone is there, 
No curse, no care. 



Edward Rowland Sii.l 



FEBRUARY 26. 



|^LOSER than earthly friend can be. 

When heart meets heart in sympathy, 
O pitying One, draw near to me ! 

Miss S. P. Newman. 



But Thou, O Lord, art a God full of compa< 
sion, and gracious, long-suffering, and plenteou 
in mercy and truth. 



Ps. lxxxvi. T5. 



Tis mercy — mercy we implore ; 

We would Thy pity move ; 
Thy grace is an exhaustless store, 

And Thou Thyself art love. 



FEBRUARY 27. 



A 



LITTLE while— 
And then, 
By brows now pale beneath the thorn 
The waiting glory shall be worn ! 



5 

Marie Mason. 



For yet a little while, and He that shall come 
will come, and will not tarry. ^ ^ ^ 



" Till He come ! "—oh, let the words 
Linger on the trembling chords ; 
Let the little while between, 
In their golden light be seen. 

Rev. E. H. Eickersteth. 



FEBRUARY 28. 



JQAYS go and come. 

In endless sum. 
Only the eternal day 

Shall come, but never go. 

HORATIUS BfcfNAR, 



Lay hold on eteVnal life. 

i Tim. vi. 12. 



Brave quiet is the thing for thee, 
Chiding thy scrupulous fears ; 

Learn to be real from the thought 
Of the eternal years. 

Frederick Wm, Faber 



FEBRUARY 29. 



TTET one day more has given me 

^ From all the powers of darkness free, 
Oh ! keep my soul from sin secure, 
My life unblamable and pure. 

Thomas Flatman. 



Thou shalt not go aside from any of the words 
which I command thee this day. 

Deut. xxviii. 14. 



Only one day 
God gives to me 
At once — oh, may I use it faithfully ! 

Emma S. Watson. 



MARCH 1. 



HARD enough is it then, even, 
To climb and be sure that I rise ; 
Yet for I climb and choose heaven — 
The pain can be borne till it dies. 

Robert K. Weeks, 

But the God of all grace, .... after that ye 
have suffered awhile, make you perfect. 

i Pet. v. io. 

All common things, each day's events, 
That with the hour begin and end, 

Our pleasures and our discontents, 
Are rounds by which we may ascend. 

Henry W. Longfeliow, 



MARCH 2. 



^~pHE crowd of cares, the weightiest cross,. 

Seem trifles less than light ; 
Earth looks so little and so low, 
When faith shines full and bright. 

Frederick Wm. Faber. 



That your faith should not stand in the wis 
dom of men, but in the power of God. 

i Cor. ii. 5. 

But this I know — 
That our faiths are foolish by falling below, 
Not coming above, what God will show. 

W. C. Gannett. 



MARCH 3. 



AM a sinner, full of doubts and fears : 
Make me a humble thing of love and tears. 

Hartley Coleridge. 



Hear my prayer, 0 Lord, and give ear unto 
my cry ; hold not Thy peace at my tears. 

PS, XXXIX. 12. 



Nor let His eye 
See sin, but through my tears* 

Phixeas Fletcher. 



MARCH 4 



r\ PATIENT watcher over all ! 

If broken lives may best complete 
Thy circle, let our fragments fall 
An offering at Thy feet. 



& 

Carl Spencer 



Ye are complete in Him. 

Col, ii. 10. 



Amazing love, that sets my spirit free. 

And makes my broken life complete in Thee 

Mrs. M. S. Corning. 



MARCH J. 



TTOW shall we test our love ? 
- ^ How shall the real be known 
From that which takes its form ? 
Love "seeketh not her own." 

Mrs. M. F. Butts. 

Be kindly affectioned one to another with 
brotherly love ; in honour preferring one an- 
other. 

Rom. xii. 10. 

Have you never felt that beauty 
Lies in pain for others borne — 

That the sacredness of duty 
Bid you offer love for scorn ? 

Reverberations. 



MARCH 6. 



A ND may we tell Him all things nor offend 
Him ? 

Will He not weary of our ceaseless plaint ? 
And does He care to have us bring before Him 
Our every need with child-like unconstraint ? 

Christian Standard. 

Casting all your care upon Him : for He 
careth for you. 

i Pet. v. 7. 

Oh, yes ! Thou never yet hadst any trial, 
However trivial it has seemed to be, 

That did not hold the sympathy of Jesus, 
And bind His heart still closer unto thee. 

Christian Standard. 



MARCH 7. 



T THUS beset with pain and grief, did pray 

* to God for grace ; 
And He forthwith did hear my plaint out of 
His holy place. 

Thomas Sterxhold. 



Now know I that the Lord saveth His anoint- 
ed ; He will hear him from His holy heaven. 

Ps. xx. 6. 

For prayer, to those who gain its priceless grace, 
Must ever seem, if reverent love be strong, 

An ante-chamber of God's dwelling-place, 
In which His chosen ones devoutly throng. 

Ellinor Lawrence. 



MARCH 8. 



WOULD not miss one sigh or tear, 
Heart-pang, or throbbing brow ; 
Sweet was the chastisement severe, 
And sweet its memory now. 

John Henry Newman. 



Blessed is the man whom Thou chastenest, 
0 Lord. 

Ps. xciv, 12, 



Suffering is my gain ; I bow 
To my heavenly Father s will. 
And receive it hushed and still ; 

Suffering is my worship now. 

RlCHTHR. 



MARCH 9. 



TT THERE sorrow's held intrusive, and turnec 

* * out, 
There wisdom will not enter, nor true power, 
Nor aught that dignifies humanity. 

Henry Taylor. 



And not only so, but we glory in tribulations 
also ; knowing that tribulation worketh patience. 



Rom. v. 3- 



Tis braver much t' outride the storm, 
Endure its rage, and shun its harm ; 
Affliction nobly undergone, 
More greatness shows than having none. 

Catharine Philips. 



MARCH 10. 



J^REARY, when the cross doth guide thee, 
And thou knowest its wondrous meanine 
Weary, when I walk beside thee, 
Thou upon my bosom leaning ? 

Mrs. a. B. C. Keene. 



For I am with thee, saith the Lord. 

Jer. XXX. II 



We will not weep : for God is standing by us, 
And tears will blind us to the blessM sight : 

We will not doubt, if darkness still doth try us, 
Our souls have promise of serenest light. 

W. H. HtRLBL-RT. 



MARCH 11. 



/~\ THOU who art our life, 

Be with us through the strife ; 
Was not Thy head by earth's fierce tempest 
bowed ? 



Mrs. Miles, 



The life which I now live in the flesh, I live 
by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, 
and gave Himself for me. 



Gal. ii. 20. 



" He taught us to yield up the love of life 
For the sake of the life of love. 
His death is our life, His loss is our gain ; 
The joy for the tear, the peace for the pain." 



MARCH 12. 



Be thy thoughts to work divine addressed ; 
Do something — do it soon — with all thy 
might ; 

An angel's wing would droop if long at rest, 
And God Himself inactive were no longer bless'd. 

Carlos Wilcox. 

Be ye therefore followers of God as dear 
children. 

Eph. v. i. 

Think what God doth for man ; so mayst thou 
know 

How Godlike service is, and serve also. 

W. J. Linton. 



MARCH 13. 



LAND unknown ! O land of love di- 



V>^ vine ! 

Father all-wise, eternal, 
Guide, guide these wandering, way-worn feet 
mine 

Unto those pastures vernal. 



He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness 



Thou art '.—directing, guiding all— Thou art ! 

Direct my understanding then to Thee ; 
Control my spirit, guide my wandering heart ; 

Though but an atom midst immensity. 




Nancy A. W. Priest. 



Translated from Derzhavin. 



MARCH 14. 



^yAITING for Spring! Poor hearts! how 
oft ye weary 
Looking for better things, and grieving much ! 
Earth lieth still, though all her bowers be dreary ; 
She trusts her God, nor thrills but at His touch. 

Cecil Francis Alexander. 

Men have not heard, nor perceived by the 
ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, besides 
Thee, what He hath prepared for him that wait- 
eth for Him. 

Is. lxiv. 4. 

Let nothing make thee sad or fretful, 
Or too regretful, 
Be still. 

Paul Fleming. 



MARCH \S. 



A LTHOUGH to-day I walk in tedious ways,- 
To-day His staff is turned into a rod — 
Yet will I wait for Him the appointed days, 
And stay upon my God. 



Christina Rosetti. 



Hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it. 

Micah vi. 9. 



With open eyes that look on God, 

My daily journey I pursue ; 
I do not dread His lifted rod ; 

Why should I fear what Love can do ? 

Caroline A. Mason. 



MARCH 16. 



"^TEIL, in mercy veil the future ! 

Let the present be our cross ; 
Meekly may we bear it, waiting 
Future strength for future loss. 

Mrs. S. A. Morewood. 



Help us, O Lord our God ; for we rest on 
Thee. 

2 Chron. xiv. IX. 



What shall the future progress be 

Of life with me ? 
God knows, — I roll on Him my care. 

Hymns of the Church Militant. 



MARCH 17. 



TN some gay hour vice steals into the breast ; 
^ Perchance she wears some softer virtue's 
vest ; 

By unperceived degrees she tempts to stray, 
Till far from virtue's path she leads the feet 
away. 

Coleridge. 

And no marvel; for Satan himself is trans- 
formed into an angel of light. 

2 Cor. xi. 14. 

Vice oft is hid in Virtue's fair disguise, 

And in her borrow'd form escapes inquiring eyes. 

j¥VENAL. 



MARCH 18. 



/^\H, we hear, but cannot promise * 
We will keep our idols from us ; 
Cling they closely like the folding 
Arms of love their pleasure holding. 

Emma Lee 



Keep yourselves from idols. 

i John v. 21, 



God ! our Father, through our weeping, 
We will yield them to Thy keeping ; 
And let angels weave the story 
How Thou'lt use us for Thy glory ! 

Emma Lee. 



MARCH 19. 



T3LESSED the servant found. 
What time his Lord returns, 
Who ready in his hand doth hold 
A lamp that brightly burns. 

M. 

Therefore be ye also ready : for in such an 
hour as ye think not, the Son of man cometh. 

Matt. xxiv. 44. 

Oh, to be ready — ready ! 
Ready to meet Thee, my Lord, 
Listening to hear Thy footfall, 
Watching to see Thy bright smile. 

E. A. H. 



MARCH 20. 



^VVe shall not rue our choice, 
Though straight our path and steep, 
We know that He who called us here 
His word shall ever keep. 

Gerhard Tersteegen 



Fear thou not ; for I am with thee. 

Is. xli. io t 



Jesus, still lead on 

Till our rest be won : 
And, although the way be cheerless 
We will follow calm and fearless. 

ZlNZENDORF, 



MARCH 21. 



(jRIEF is a tattered tent, 
Where through God's light doth shine, 
Who glances up, at every rent, 
Shall catch a ray divine. 

Lucy Larcom, 



But though He cause grief, yet will He have 
compassion according to the multitude of His 
mercies. 

Lam. iii. 32. 



Be strong, O Heart of mine, 
Look towards the light ! 

Adelaide Procter. 



MARCH 22. 



H. 



LE spared not His Son 
Tis this that silences each rising fear, 
Tis this that bids the hard thought disappear, 
He spared not His Son ! 

HORATIUS BONAR. 



He that spared not His own Son, but deliv 
ered Him up for us all, how shall He not with 
Him also freely give us all things ? 

Rom, viii. 32, 



For never shall my soul despair 

Her pardon to procure, 
Who knows Thine only Son has died 

To make her pardon sure. 

Joseph Addison. 



MARCH 23. 



TN my thankful heart His goodness lives, 
* So may I take the grief He gives. 
Oh ! who in this world could wake or rest, 
Without the knowledge that God knows best 

Rose Terry Cooke, 



As for God, His way is perfect. 

2 Sam. xxii. 31.. 



Happy the man, who sees a God employ'd 
In all the good and ill that checker life ! 

William Cowpee. 



MARCH 24. 



SEARCH me, and know my thoughts, AIL 
seeing Lye — 
What of my motives in the Master's work?— 
Though I may shrink from such close scrutiny, 
Doth no low object in the covert lurk? 

Millie. 



Search me, O God, and know my heart : try 

me, and know my thoughts. 

Ps. cxxxix. 23. 

Thoughts, thoughts, thoughts ! 
Rolling wave-like on the mind s strange shore, 
Rustling leaf-like through it evermore, 

O that they might follow God's good Hand ! 

William Alexander. 



MARCH 2?. 



T3EAUTIFUL lips are those whose words 
- Leap from the heart like songs of birds, 
Yet whose utterance prudence girds. 

Ellen P. Allerton. 



I will keep my mouth with a bridle. 

Ps. xxxix. i. 



Have a care 

Of whom you talk, to whom, and what, and 
where. 

POOLEY. 



MARCH 26, 



Yy^E are as children ; the things that we do 
Are as sports of a babe to the Infinite 
view 

That marks all our weakness, and pities it too. 

F. Burge Smith. 



Like as a father pitieth his children, so the 
Lord pitieth them that fear Him. 

Ps. ciii. 13. 



Our weakness wins 
From Him such pity as alone 
To fathers' yearning hearts is known. 

H. H. 



MARCH 27. 



GOD of truth, for whom alone I sigh, 



Knit Thou my heart by strong, sweet 
chords to Thee. 



I drew them .... with bands of love. 



I will not let Thee go; should I forsake my 
bliss ? 

No, Lord, Thou'rt mine, and I am Thine; 
Thee will I hold when all things else I miss ; 
Though dark and sad the night, joy cometh 




From the French of Pierre Corneille. 



Hosea xi. 4. 



with Thy light. 



Translated from Deszl^r. 



MARCH 28. 



JT^EAR God, I am so weary with it all, 

I fain would rest me for a little space : 
Is there no great rock where the shadows fall, 
Where I may cast me down and hide my face ? 

Mary L. Ritter. 

And it shall come to pass .... that the 
Lord shall give thee rest. 

Is. xiv. 3. 

Does it seem that the blinding dazzle of noon- 

day glare and heat 
Is a fiery veil between thy heart and visions 

high and sweet ? 
What though a "lull in life" may never be 

made for thee ? 
Soon shall a « better thing " be thine-the luli 

of Eternity. 

F. R„ Havergal. 



MARCH 29. 



SPHERE is a cross in every lot, 

^ And an earnest need for prayer 
But a lowly heart that leans on Thee 
Is happy anywhere. 

A. L. Waring. 



But let all those that put their trust in Thee 
rejoice. 

J Ps. V. II. 



Soul, be but inly bright- 
All outer things must smile, must catch 
The strong, transcendent light. 



T. H. Gill, 



MARCH 30. 



^ KNOW not how, nor where, nor when, 
My Father may provide 
To bring me to His mansions fair, 
Forever to abide. 

Charles W. Pitcher, 



God will relieve my soul from the power of 
the grave ; for He shall receive me. 

Ps. xlix. 15. 



It matters little at what hour of the day 
The righteous fall asleep, Death cannot come 
To him untimely, who is fit to die. 

Mjlman. 



MARCH 31. 



W HY shouldst thou fill to-day with sorrow 
About to-morrow, 
My heart ? 

Paul Fleming. 



Take therefore no thought for the morrow. 

Matt. vi. 34. 



No longer forward, nor behind, 

I look in hope and fear : 
But grateful, take the good I find, 

The best of now, and here. 

J. G, Whittier. 



APRIL 1. 



T7AINT not, poor traveler, though thy way 
- Be rough, like that thy Saviour trod ; 

Though cold and stormy lower the day, 
This path of suffering leads to God. 

Andrews Norton 



The light shall shine upon thy ways. 

Job xxii. 28 



If only a little way ahead 

Shine the print of the Masters feet, 
There is glory o'er all the path I tread, 

And the following wondrous sweet ! 

Mrs. L. F. Baker, 



APRIL 2. 



/~\ FATHER! I have sinned. I have done 
The thing I thought I never more should 
do. 

My days were set before me, light all through, 
But I have made them dark, — alas ! too true. 

Henry Septimus Sutton. 

For the good that I would, I do not : but the 
evil which I would not that I do. 

Rom. vii. 19. 

My sins distressed me night and day — 

The sin within me born ; 
I could not do the thing I would, 
In all my life was nothing good. 

Martin Luther. 



APRIL 3. 



"TT THEN the bright promise of our spring 

Is but a withered leaf, — 
Lord, to Thy truths still let us cling ; 
Help Thou our unbelief. 

Rev. S. G. Bulfinch. 



While the earth remaineth, seed-time and 
harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and 
winter, and day and night, shall not cease. 



Gen. viii 22. 



I see that all things wait in trust, 
As feeling afar God's distant ends. 

Anne Whitney 



APRIL 4. 



Q. 1 VE rest, O God, in love ; 

The thought Thou art above 
Brings comfort blest. 

Independent. 



Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest 

Heb. iv. ii. 



No rest is to be found, 

But in Thy blessed love. 
O let my wish be crowned 

And send it from above. 

J. Byrom. 



APRIL J. 



T OVE for all ! and can it be ? 
^ Can I hope it is for me ? 

Samuel Longfellow. 



The Lord is good to all. 

Ps. cxlv. 9, 



Among so many can He care ? 
Can special love be everywhere ? 
A myriad homes, — a myriad ways, — 
And God's eye over every place. 

Adeline D. T. Whitney. 



APRIL 6. 



/ T*HEY who God's face can understand, 
Feel not the workings of His hand. 

Lord Houghton 



Make Thy face to shine upon Thy servant. 

Ps. xxxi. 16. 



From God's glances shrink thou never, 
Meet them ever. 

Frifdrich Rudolph von Canttz 



APRIL 7. 



LTHOUGH to-day He prunes my twigs 



Yet doth His blood nourish and warm my root ; 
To-morrow I shall put forth buds again, 
And clothe myself with fruit. 



Every branch that beareth fruit He purgeth 
it, that it may bring forth more fruit. 



So be it, Lord ; my joyous soul has need 

Of its dark days, and in this dreary night, 
Roots shall strike downward, that anon shall 
shoot 

In rich and living branches to the light. 




with pain, 



Christine A. Rosetti, 



John xv. 2. 



Mrs. Elizabeth Prentiss. 



APRIL 8. 



BlJT Thou hast blent 
Thy beauty with our loss so long and well, 
That in all future grief we may foretell 
Some lurking good behind each seeming ill, 

Charles Turner 



It is good for me that I have been afflicted. 

Ps. cxix. 71, 



Ofttimes, methinks, the shaded eye 
Most fathoms Thine infinity. 

Paul Pastnor, 



APRIL 9. 



HE hears thy faintly-sobbing breath, 
He marks each quivering limb ; 
He drank a cup for thee alone- 
Child ! drink it now with Him. 

Anna Shipton, 



Ye shall drink indeed of my cup. ^ ^ ^ 



I take the cup— the Loving Cup, 
Thrice blessed shall it be ; 

I would not miss one gift, O Lord, 
Thy Blood hath bought for me 



j 

Anna Shipton. 



APRIL 10. 



gAD to his toil he goes, 

His seed with weeping leaves ; 
But he shall come, at twilight close, 
And bring his golden sheaves 



They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. 

P=. cxxvi 



We must not hope to be mowers, 
And to gather the ripe gold ears, 

Until we have first been sowers, 
And watered the furrows with 



APRIL 11. 



L r P to labor ! from thee shaking 
Off the bonds of sloth, be brave ! 
Give thyself to prayer and waking ; 
Toil, some fainting heart to save ! 

Miss Bremer. 



Be readv to every good work. 

J D Titus 111. i. 



The Christian spirit loves with aid to go ; 

Will not be sought, waits not for want to plead, 

But seeks the duty— nay, prevents the need. 



Crap be. 



APRIL 12. 



OENDETH He not from Heaven 
His love to me below — 
Mercy, to hide my losses, 

Falling like the snow ? 

Nellie C. Hastings. 



For I knew that Thou art a gracious God, and 
merciful. 

Jonah iv. 2. 



O blessed life ! the mind that sees, — 
Whatever change the years may bring,- 
A mercy still in everything, 

And shining through all mysteries. 

William Tidd Matson. 



APRIL 13. 



17" NOW God —and bring thy heart to know 
^ The joys which from religion flow : 
Then every grace shall prove its guest. 



Thomas Parnell. 



If they obey and serve Him, they shall spend 
their days in prosperity, and their years in 
pleasures. 

L Job xxxvi. n. 



Be noble— that is more than wealth ; 

Do right— that's more than place ; 
Then in the Spirit there is health, 

And gladness in the face. 

George Macdonald. 



APRIL 14. 



L 



/ET no desire of ease, 
No lack of courage, faith, or love delay 
Mine own steps on that high thought-paven 
way, 

In which my soul her clear commission sees. 

Sir Wm. Rowan Hamilton. 

Let them that suffer according to the will of 
God, commit the keeping of their souls to Him 
in well-doing. 

i Pet. iv. 19. 

Then seek to please Him, whatso'er He bids 

thee, 

Whether to do— to suffer— to lie still ! 
'Twill matter little by what path He led us, 
If in it all we sought to do His will ! 

H. W. B. 



APRIL \S. 



Ty E wakeful, be vigilant, — 
Danger may be 
At an hour when all seemeth 
Securest to thee. 

Caroline Bowles Southey, 



Let us watch and be sober. 

i Thess. v. 5, 



Thou shouldst not sleep as others do ; 
Awake ; be vigilant ; be brave ! 

Thomas Kelly. 



APRIL 16. 



that the sun is gleaming bright, 
Implore we, bending low, 
That He, the uncreated Light, 
May guide us as we go. 

Medieval Hymn. 



Thou wilt shew me the path of life. 



Ps. xvL ii. 



Yet, if we will one Guide obey, 
The dreariest path, the darkest way, 
Shall issue out in heavenly day 



Trench 



APRIL 17. 



ORROWS humanize our race ; 

Tears are the showers that fertilize this 
world. 

Jean Inge low. 



Their soul shall be as a watered garden ; and 
they shall not sorrow any more at all. 

Jer. xxxi. 13. 



Full many a garden's dressed in vam 5 
Where tears of sorrow never rain, 

SCHNOLKE. 



APRIL 18. 



^jpHE soul alone, like a neglected harp, 

Grows out of tune, and needs that Hand 
divine. 

Dwell Thou within it, tune and touch the chords, 
Till every note and string shall answer Thine. 

Mrs. H. B. Stowe. 

That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. 



Trust,— no other word we utter 
Can so sweet and precious be, 

Tuning all life's jarring discords 
Into heavenly harmony. 

Mrs. S. A. F. Herbert. 



APRIL 19. 



TT is the battle, not the prize, 

That fills the hero's breast with joy; 
And industry the bliss supplies 

Which mere possession might destroy. 

R. M. MlLNES, 



Thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord. 

J EE. xxxi. 1 6. 



No endeavor is in vain ; 

Its reward is in the doing ; 

And the rapture of pursuing 
Is the price the vanquished gain. 

Longfellow. 



APRIL 20. 



^JTY heart believes— yet still I long for light. 
Surely the morning cometh after night,, 
When Faith, the watcher, shall give place to 
sight. 

Littell's Living Age. 



The Lord shall be thine everlasting: lieht. 

Is. ix. 20, 



Put thy trembling hand in His ; 

Strong and powerful it is ; 
It shall guide thee through the night 

Into perfect light. 

Miss C. M Packard 



APRIL 21. 



T HAVE a will, yet, of my own : 
^ The Lord has work for me to do ; 
All earthly things I've not outgrown, 
Nor wholly put on all things new. 

Rev. J. E. Rankin, D.D. 



Not my will, but Thine, be done. 

Luke xxii. 42. 



The self I cannot conquer, 

The will that still is mine, 
Oh, take them both, Lord Jesus, 

And make them one with Thine. 

Hetty Bowman. 



APRIL 22. 



JgUT evil is wrought by want of thought 
As well as by want of heart. 

Thomas Hood 



I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not 
with my tongue. 

Ps. xxxix. i. 



If we'd thought our heartless folly 
Would have left so deep a sore, 

Would we then have spoken rudely ? 
Would we not have hushed it o'er ? 

Rev. William Mitchell. 



APRIL 23. 



COME, send abroad a love for all who live, 
And feel the deep content in turn they 
give. 

Kind wishes and good deeds,— they make not 
poor ; 

They'll home again, full laden, to thy door. 

Richard Henry Dana. 



God loveth a cheerful giver. 

2 Cor. ix. 7. 



Give thy love freely ! do not count the cost ; 
So beautiful a thing was never lost 
In the long run. 

Ella Wheeler 



APRIL 24. 



" XT 01 " 2, smilin g> beckons, bidding us take 
courage ; 

Faith points to heaven, where God and 
angels dwell, 
Assuring us that all our untried future 
Is known to Him who ' doeth all things 
well/ " 

Lay hold upon the hope set before us. 

Hebrews vi. 18 

Argue not 

Against Heaven's hand or will, nor bate a jot 
Of heart or hope ; but still bear up and steer 
Right onward. 

John Milton, 



APRIL 25. 



I SAID : O God, Thou art wise ! 
And I thank Thee, again and again, 
For the Sower whose name is Pain. 

Richari W. Gilder 



I know, O Lord, that Thy judgments are right, 
and that Thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me. 

Ps. cxix. 75. 



To lack the loving discipline of pain 
Were endless pain. 

Songs in the Night. 



APRIL 26. 



TT7HAT can we bear beyond the unknown 
* * portal ? 

No gold, no gains 
Of all our toiling. 

Edward Rowland Sill. 



For when he dieth he shall carry nothing 
away. 

Ps. xlix. 17. 

Sunshine and cloud have the skies for theii 
range. 

Gold of earth's day 
Is but splendid clay, 
Alone heaven's happiness lasteth for aye. 

Thomas Kingo. 



APRIL 27. 



T)UT it exceeds man's thought, to think 
how high 

God hath raised man, since God a man 
became ; 

The angels do admire this mystery, 

And are astonished when they view the same. 

Sir John Davies. 

Great is the mystery of godliness. 

i Tim. iii. 16. 

As we by Him have honored been, 
Let us to Him due honors give ; 

Let His uprightness hide our sin, 
And let us worth from Him receive. 

George Wither, 



APRIL 28. 



JT is not exile, rest on high : 

It is not sadness, peace from strife : 
To fall asleep is not to die ; 

To dwell with Christ is better life. 

J. M. Neale. 



Even so them also which sleep in jesus will 
God bring with Him. 

i Thess, iv. 14. 



Life is but the way of dying, death is but the 
gate of life. 



Isabella Craig. 



APRIL 29. 



T HAVE read of that city, so peaceful, so fair 
And I dream of it through the long night, 
O glorious I know it must be to be there, 
And dwell with the ransomed in light. 

Helen L. Smith. 

For the glory of God did lighten it, and the 
Lamb is the light thereof. 

Rev. xxi. 23, 

Who can utter what the pleasures and the 
peace unbroken are, 

Where arise the pearly mansions, shedding sil- 
very light afar, 

Festive seats and golden roofs which glitter like 
the evening star ? 

Peter Damiani 



MAY 2, 



T THOUGHT upon my sins, and I was sad, 
My soul was troubled sore and filled with 
pain ; 

But then I thought on Jesus and was glad, 
My heavy grief was turned to joy again. 

HORATIUS BONAR. 

A merciful and faithful high priest in things 
pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for 
the sins of the people. 

Heb. ii. 17. 

Thy mercy, Lord, is like the morning sun, 
Whose beams undo what sable night hath done ; 
Or like a stream, the current of whose course, 
Restraint awhile, runs with a swifter force. 

Francis Qua ri.es, 



MAY h 



npRUST thou thy joys in keeping of the 
^ Power 

Who holds these changing shadows in His 
hand ; 

Believe and live, and know that hour by hour 
Will ripple newer beauty to thy strand. 

Thomas Wentworth Higginson, 

The righteous shall be glad in the Lord, and 
shall trust in Him. . 

Ps. lxiv. IO. 

Trust Him, though other joys slip from your 
keeping. 

Trust Him, my soul, and patiently await 
The time appointed for a blissful reaping, 
None the less precious that it cometh late. 

Josephine Pollard. 



MAY 4. 



TTIS thoughts are high, His love is wise 

His wounds a cure intend ; 
And though He does not always smile, 
He loves unto the end. 

Selina, Countess of Huntingdon. 



Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting 
love. 

Jer. xxxi. 3, 



Take Thine own way with me, dear Lord, 
Thou canst not otherwise than bless ; 

I launch me forth upon a sea 

Of boundless love and tenderness. 

Jean Sophia Pigott. 



MAY $. 



ATOR in aught 

^ ^ Christ hath taught 
Let us fail to one another, 
But each love and help his brother. 

C. J. P. Spin a. 



Love one another, as He gave us command 
ment. 

i John iii. 23. 



Then shall Thy perfect will be done 
When Christians love and live as one. 

E. Robinson. 



MAY 6. 



PlTY my woes, O God ! 
And touch my will with Thy warm breath. 

W. C. R. 



Then will the Lord .... pity His people, 
Yea, the Lord will answer. 

Joel ii. 18, 19. 



I bowed to God, He heard my prayer; 
I felt the warm breath in my hair ; 
He heard me my desires tell, 
And He is good, and all is well. 

Joaquin Miller, 



MAY 7. 



TTNDER God's mighty hand, 
^ Obeying His command, 

Thy God will clothe thee with humility ; 

It is His love, my soul, that humbles thee. 

Miss S. A. White. 

Be clothed with humility : for God resisteth 
the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. 

i Peter v. 5, 

Grant, gracious Saviour ! e'en to me, 
Thy clothing of humility ! 
Thy true disciples' loveliest dress — 
Thy " meekness" and Thy " gentleness." 

Grinfield. 



MAY 8. 



A TY heart is tired, my God ; 
^ Is tired, and longs for rest ; 
Longs like a weeping child to fall 
Upon its father's breast. 



E. E, Lay, 



Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the com* 
ing of the Lord. 

James v. 7. 



Poor soul ! And don't you know 
Without the work and strife and weary days 
You would not long for rest ? These are God's 

ways 

That win you from the life below. 

E. S. & 



MAY 9. 



^T^HOU my hiding-place shalt be, 

And from trouble safely guide, 
All my songs shall be of Thee, 
Hedged with joy on every side. 

William Wye Smith. 

Thou art my hiding-place ; Thou shalt pre* 
serve me from trouble ; Thou shalt compass me 
about with songs of deliverance. 

Ps. xxxii. 7. 

Kept by Thee I safely stand, 
None can pluck me from Thy hand, 
Who, then, shall my soul condemn ? 
Hidd'n in Thee, naught can o'envhelm ! 

Maria A West. 



MAY 10. 




CQUAINT thyself with Him 
The tender heart and true, 



Learn what His love to man hath wrought, 
The pierced hand that victory bought. 

M. E. Winslow. 

For He hath done marvellous things : His 
right hand, and His holy arm, hath gotten Him 
the victory. 

Ps. xcviii. r. 

Guide Thou my hand within that hand of 
Thine, — 

Thy wounded hand ! — until its tremblings take 
Strength from Thy touch. 

Dora Greenwet.l. 



MAY 11. 



T)EAUTIFUL hands are those that do 

Work that is earnest and brave and true 
Moment by moment the long day through. 

Ellen P. Allerton. 



Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands 
be weak ; for your work shall be rewarded. 

2 Chron. xv. 7. 



Our busy hands from evil stay ; 
Lord ! help us still to tasks divine — 
Still keep us in the heavenly way. 

T. H. Gili- 



MAY 12. 



A H ! in all issues of poor human strife 

Naught brings reward save a sweet min- 
istering life, 
Man's mission lies in goodness, mercy, love ; 
These, nurtured here, eternal bloom above. 

Henry Fauntleroy, 



If any man minister, let him do it as of the 
ability which God giveth. 

i Pet. iv. u. 



Let me find in Thy employ 
Peace that dearer is than joy ; 
Out of self to love be led 
And to heaven acclimated. 

J. G. Whittier. 



MAY 13. 



TT^E would not meagre gifts down-call 

When Thou dost yearn to yield us all 
But for this life, this little hour, 
Ask all Thy love and care and power. 

Jean t Ingelow. 

Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne 
of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find 
grace to help in time of need, 

Hebrews iv. 16. 



None shall measure out Thy patience 
By the span of human thought ; 

None shall bound the tender mercies 
Which Thy holy Son hath wrought . 

Thomas Park. 



MAY 14. 



S~\ BIND thyself with silver ties 

To men, — to God with golden bands 
This is religion ; — thus shall rise 
The house not made with hands. 

Reverberations. 

For other foundation can no man lay tha 
that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 

i Cor. iii. n. 

Who would build up his manhood well 
Must lay the great foundation-stone 

In Piety, for he shall dwell 
Secure in that a!ori3. 

Reverberations. 



MAY lj. 



TTET would I walk, unfaltering, the way 
Thou leadest me, glad, eager to obey : 

Thy will be done, tho' Thou should'st say mc 
nay ! 

Bessie H. Whittier. 



Now the God of peace .... make you per- 
fect in every good work, to do His will. 

Heb. xiii. 20, 31. 



1 lis will be done whose mercy much has given ! 
fMl pray, — my grateful hands to heaven folding. 

Chamisso. 



MAY 16. 



S« 



)OWER divine ! 
Sow the good seed m me, 
Seed for eternity. 



Horatius Bonak 



The sower soweth the word. 



Mark iv. 14. 



For I felt that the Lord of the world, who kept 
Watch of His work while others slept, 
Would surely scatter abroad in me 
The seeds for His own eternity* 

Rev. Samuel DuFFiELt). 



MAY 17. 



HERE upon earth an assemblage of children 
in heaven one Father, 
Ruling them as His own household —forgiving 
in turn and chastising. 



Esaias Tegner. 



We have had fathers of our flesh which cor- 
rected us, and we gave them reverence : shall 
we not much rather be in subjection unto the 
Father of spirits, and live ? 



I, His dear child, or here, or there, 
And He, my Father everywhere ! 

Caroline A. Mason. 



MAY 18. 



"^^ITHIN the hearts of all men he 
Those promises of wider bliss, 
Which blossom into hopes that cannot die. 

J. R. Lowell. 



Rejoicing in hope ; patient in tribulation. 

Rom. xii. 12, 



But let me still abide, 

Nor from Thy hope remove, 
Till Thou my patient spirit guide 

Into Thy perfect love ! 



Charles Wesley, 



MAY 19. 



f ORD, with the love wherewith Thou lov- 
^ est me, 

Reflected on Thyself, I would love Thee. 

Montgomery. 



Keep yourselves in the love of God. 

Ji; 



Well may Thine own belov'd, who see 
In all their lot their Fathers pleasure, 

Bear loss of all they love, save Thee, 
Their living, everlasting Treasure. 



A. L. Waring. 



MAY 20. 



J^OVE speaks a simple language, 

But speak it must and will, 
And our Lord doth set His sanction 
On its tender promptings still." 



The words of the pure are pleasant words. 

Prov. XV. 2? 



Tis sweet to hear, 
Though oft repeated, a word of cheer. 

Mrs. Clara Doty Bates. 



MAY 21. 



I 



'EEP my conscience purified; 
' Lord, for this, in me abide ! 



Maria A. West, 



And herein do I exercise myself, to have al 
ways a conscience void of offence toward God, 
and toward men. 



Acts xxiv. 16, 



This, this is all my choice, my cheer— 
A mind content, a conscience clear. 

Joshua Sylvester. 



MAY 22. 



JESUS Himself, the Prince of Life, 
Bows in mysterious mortal strife. 
Oh, think of this sorrow, that Ave may know 
The unknown love in the unknown woe ! 

^ Franxes Ridley Havlkgal. 

Who His own self bare our sins in His owi 
body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins 
should live unto righteousness. 

i Pet. ii. 24. 

See how He loved, who never shrank 
From toil or danger, pain or death ! 

Who all the cup of sorrow drank, 
And meekly yielded up His breath. 

Mrs. Sarah Backs. 



MAY 23. 



T) ENEW my will from day to day, 

Blend it with Thine,, and take away 
All that now makes it hard to say, 
" Thy will be done ! " 

C. Elliott. 

It is the Lord : let Him do what seemeth 
Him good. 

t Sam. iii. i3. 

And if, in love and wisdom, He 
Should take the things most dear to me, 
Yet I, resigned unto His will, 
Would praise His name rejoicing still. 

Joseph A. Torrey. 



MAY 24. 



TTASTE not ! Let no thoughtless deed 

Mar for aye the spirit's speed ! 
Ponder well, and know the right, 
Onward then with all thy might ! 

Goethe 



Take heed what ye do. 

2 Chron. xix. 6, 



Ah ! well may angels weep to see 
The gay, the thoughtless, hurry past, 

As if to live was all of life, 

Without a reckoning at the last. 

Anna Cleaves. 



MAY 25- 



IN one who walked on earth a man of woe, 
Was holier peace than e'en this hour in 
spires. 

From Him to me let inward quiet flow, 

And give the might my failing will requires. 

Sterling 



Now the Lord of peace Himself give y- 
peace always by all means. _ ^ ... j 



Peace, troubled soul, the Eye 

That never sleeps, 

But keeps 
A faithful watch, is nigh. 

Rev. W. T. Sleeper. 



MAY 26. 



HOU standest pitying by me, 
And lookest on each grief of mine 
As if 'twere Thine. 

Mary, Queen of Hungary, 



In all their afflictions He was afflicted. 

Is. Ixiii. 9. 



He who bore 
Life's heaviest cross is mine forevermore, 
And I who wait His coming, shall not I 
On His sure word rely ? 

A. D. F. Randolph 



MAY 27. 




E sometimes wants our ear— our rapt atten. 
tion, 



That He some sweetest secret may impart : 
Tis always in the time of deepest silence, 
That heart finds deepest fellowship with heart. 

H. W. B. 

I will hear what God the Lord will speak : 
for He will speak peace unto His people. 

Ps. lxxxv. 8. 

Speak low to me, my Saviour, low and sweet 
prom out the hallelujahs, sweet and low, 

Lest I should fear and fall, and miss Thee so 
Who art not missed by any that entreat. 

Mrs. E. B. Browning. 



MAY 28. 



never say that the door is shut 
To any watcher weary of sin ! 
Thou knowest who said, and who says it still, 
" Ye weary and troubled to rest come in." 

A. A 



Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy 
laden, and I will give you rest. 

Matt. xi. 28. 



There's rest for weary hearts down here, 
And home for stainless souls up there. 

Rev. John Parker, 



MAY 29. 



I SEE the path before me 
Unto the regions blest, 
As one that soon will take me 
To their delightful rest. 



Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord 
from henceforth : Yea, saith the Spirit, that 
thev may rest from their labors. 

J Rkv. xiv. 13- 



Grant that our willing, though unworthy guest 
May, through Thy grace, admit us 'mongst th( 
blest. 



Thomas Heywood. 



MAY 30. 



gE useful when thou livest, that they may 
Both want, and wish thy pleasing pres- 
ence still. 

George Herbert. 



The righteous shall be in everlasting re mem 
brance. 

Ps. cxii. 6. 



But let us ask, Do we also shine 
With glory from Christ our Sun ? 

Will aught we do in the world for Him 
Be missed when life is done ? 

Charlotte Murray, 



MAY 31. 



StAY the present instant, .... 
Imprint the marks of wisdom on its wings : 
Tis of more worth than kingdoms ! far more 

precious 

Than all the crimson treasures of life's fountain, 

Nathaniel Cotton. 

A wise man's heart discerneth both time and 
judgment. 

Eccl. viii. 5. 

E'en while we speak, the envious time 
Doth make swift haste away ; 

Then seize the present, use thy prime, 
Nor trust another day. 

Creech. 



■* 



JUNE 1. 



WHO can make no mistake, 
Chooseth the way I take ; 
He who can ne'er forsake, 
Holds my hand still ! 

From the German. 



For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right 
hand. 



Is. xli. ia. 



And so I think I little care 
For what the world may say ; 

For clinging tightly to His hand, 
I shall not lose my way. 

M. N. Harvey. 



JUNE 2. 



CORGIVE our debts as we forgive." — 
Ah, who, dear Lord, can pray tha 
prayer ? 

The rest with ready zeal is said, 
But self-accused we falter there. 

Mary B, Sleight. 



Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors 

Matt. vi. 12. 



Ashamed and penitent we kneel ; 

O Thou, who dost our sins forget, 
Help us with Thy sweet charity 

To pardon freely all the debt. 



JUNE 3. 



BEHOLD the grant the King of kings 
Hath to His subjects given : 
" All things are yours," it saith ; all things 
That are in earth and heaven. 

Francis S. Key, 



For all things are yours. 



i Cor. ui. si. 



I ask for patience, faith, and meekness, 
And love divine that all endures : 

Give me Thy strength to meet my weakness, 
Since Thou hast said, " All things are yours.' 

Anna Shiptcki. 



JUNE 4. 



r\H ! what am I, that I am loved ' 
By Jesus Christ ? 

Mrs. Emily C. Spear 



I will love them freely. 

HOSEA xiv. 4 



See, my Father waiting stands ; 
See, He reaches out His hands ; 
God is love ! I know, I see, 
There is love for me, — even me ! 

Samuel Longfellow. 



JUNE J. 



TTIS love in time past forbids me to think 

He'll leave me at last in trouble to sink, 
Each sweet Ebenezer I have in review 
Confirms His good pleasure to help me quite 
through. 



S. Newton. 



They shall abundantly utter the memory of 
Thv great goodness. 

" & ° Ps. cxlv. 7. 



Oh, let me then at length be taught 
What I am still so slow to learn,— 

That God is love, and changes not, 
Nor knows the shadow of a turn. 

William Ccwper. 



JUNE 6. 



^ND we shall see how, while we frown and 
sigh, 

God's plans go on as best for you and me ; 
How, when we called, He heeded not our cry 
Because His wisdom to the end could see. 

Mrs. May Riley Smith. 

He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom 
and prudence. 

Em. i. 8. 



Prayer for this one thing was vain, 
Yet His love is made more plain. 
Yet I pray with heart at rest, 
" Send me not— what is not best." 

Helen M. Wright. 



JUNE 7. 



i~^HOU that hast given so much to me, 
Give one thing more, a grateful heart. 

George Herbert. 



Continue in prayer, and watch in the same 
with thanksgiving. 



And Thou wilt hear the thought I mean, 

And not the words I say ; 
Wilt hear the thanks among the words 

That only seem to pray. 



Tohn W. Chadwick. 



JUNE 8. 



^J^HERE is a secret chamber in each mind, 

Which none can find 
But He who made it— none beside can know 

Its joy or woe. 



Littell's Living Age. 



He knoweth the secrets of the heart. 

Ps. xliv. 21. 



Thy heart's unspoken pain He knows, 
Thy secret sigh He hears full well, 

What to none else thou darest disclose, 
To Him thou mayest with boldness tell. 

Paul Gerhardt 



JUNE 9. 



TT is the Lord ! Who can sustain 

Beneath the heaviest load ; 
From Whom assistance I obtain 
To tread the thorny road ! 



Greene. 



Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall 
sustain thee. Ps> ly> ^ 



O heavy burden ! Why 'tis borne and how, 
None know save those who bear ; and Him 

whose hand 
Has laid it on the shoulder, and said, " Stand- - 

Stand upright." ^ 



JUNE 10. 



J^EAVE thy cares beneath. 
Leave thy worldly love ! 
Begin the better life 
With God above ! 

Thomas Blackburn. 



For whatsoever is born of God, overcometh 
the world. 

i John v. 4. 



Seek not in Mammon's worship pleasure, 
But find your richest, dearest treasure 
In God, His word, His work. 

Horace Smith 



JUNE 11. 



YET He was patient —slow to wrath, 
Though every day provoked 
By selfish, pining, discontent, 
Acceptance cold or negligent. 



Caroline Bowles. 



Now the God of patience and consolation 
grant you to be like minded one toward an- 
other according to Christ Jesus. RoM . xv . 

My mind was ruffled with small cares to-day, 
And I said pettish words, and did not keep 
Long-suffering patience well ; and now how deep 
My trouble for this sin ! gEpTiMus SuTT0N . 



JUNE 12. 



^ S unto Tllee > O Lord, 

Not for the praise of men, 
Nor that the good we do 
Be done to us aeain. 



Susan M. Day. 



And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as tc 
the Lord, and not unto men. 

Col. Hi. 23. 



And ye shall succor men ; 

'Tis nobleness to serve ; 
Help them who cannot help again : 

Beware from right to swerve. 

Ralph Waldo Emerson 



JUNE 13. 



In the course of justice, none of us 
Should see salvation : we do pray for mercy ; 
And that same prayer doth teach us all to rendei 
The deeds of mercy. 

William Shakspeare. 

Not by works of righteousness which we have 
done, but according to His mercy He saved us. 

Titus iii. 5- 

Had not the milder hand of mercy broke 
The furious violence of that fatal stroke 
Offended Justice struck, we had been quite 
Lost in the shadows of eternal night. 

Francis Quarles. 



JUNE 14. 



TV 



look before and after, 
And pine for what is not. 



Percy Bysshe Shelley, 



Be content with such things as ye have. 

Heb. xiii. 5. 



O what a load of struggle and distress 
Falls off before the cross ! The feverish care ; 
The wish that we were other than we are ; 
The sick regrets ; the yearnings numberless. 

Chauncey Hare Townshend. 



JUNE \$. 



O SIMPLE fools ! that having rules 
Your lives to regulate, 
Would them refuse, and rather choose 
Vile men to imitate. 

Michael Wigglesworth. 



O that there were such an heart in them, tl 
they would fear me, and keep my comma 
ments always. Deot ¥ _ 



Up, my soul ! with clear sedateness 

Read Heaven's law, writ bright and broad, 

Up '• a sacrifice to greatness, 

Truth and goodness— up to God ! 

Miss Bremer. 



JUNE 16. 



Thee ! to Thee ! Thou Sire of all, 
Our prayers in faith ascend. 
All things that breathe, both great and small. 
On Thee alone depend. 

Johan Olof Wallin. 



He giveth to all life, and breath, and all 
things. 

Acts xvii. 25. 

F or all behind the starry sky, 

Behind the world so broad, 
Behind men's hearts and souls doth lie 

The infinite of God. 

GtiORGE MACDONALD. 



JUNE 17. 



AND Thou art above, and when towards 
Thee, 

By Thy leave I can look, I rise again ; 
But our old subtle foe so tempteth me, 
That not one hour myself I can sustain. 

John Donne. 



God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be 
tempted above that ye are able. 

1 i Cor. x. 13. 



Shut my heart up like a flower 
At temptation's darksome hour, 
Open it when shines the sun, 
And His love by fragrance own. 

T. T. Lynch. 



JUNE 18. 



J^E who himself and God would know 

Into the silence let him go, 
And, lifting of pall after pall, 
Reach to the inmost depth of all. 

Martineau, 



Be silent, O all flesh, before the Lord. 

Zech. ii. 13, 



It was the voice of God that spake 
In silence to thy silent heart, 

And bade each worthier thought awake, 
And every dream of earth depart. 

BULFINCH 



JUNE 19. 



0 



God, like a father who watches 
Carefully over his children, us blesses in joy and 
in sorrow. JOHAMI h^ch Toss. 



If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with 
you as with sons ; for what son is he whom the 
father chasteneth not ? Hm _ a ^ 



The Lord with fit affliction will 
Correct the children of His love ; 

He doth Himself their Father still, 
By His most wise corrections prove. 

Carton Mather 



JUNE 20. 



ET me wear the white robes here, 
Even on earth, my Father dear ; 
Holding fast Thy hand, and so 
Through the world unspotted go. 

Lucy Larcom. 

I counsel thee to buy of me ... . white rai- 
ment. 

Rev. iii. 18. 

Send down Thy likeness from above 
And let this my adorning be : 

Clothe me with wisdom, patience, love, 
With lowliness and purity. 

Joachim Langs, 



JUNE 21. 



rpO prayer, to prayer ; — for the morning 
breaks, 

And Earth in her Maker's smile awakes. 
His light is on all below and above, 
The light of gladness, and life, and love. 

Rev. H. Ware. D.D. 



Arise, shine ; for Thy light is come, and the 
p-lorv of the Lord is risen upon thee. 

& J Is. lx. I. 



Glad with Thy light, and glowing with Thy love, 
So let me ever speak and think and move 
As fits a soul new-touched with life from 
Heaven. 



C. J. P Spitta. 



JUNE 22. 



^MVE us an ever-living faith 

To gaze beyond the things we see ; 
And in the mystery of Thy Death 
Draw us and all men unto Thee. 

William W. How. 

And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will 
draw all men unto me. 

John xii. 32. 

Come up hither ! 
I, who died for thee, 
All thy strength will be, 

Come up hither ! 

Mrs. A. B. C. Keenf 



JUNE 23. 



FORGIVE us, Lord, our little faith ; 
And help us all, from morn till e'en, 
Still to believe that lot the best 

Which is— not that which might have been. 

G. Zabriskie Gray, 

For I have learned, in whatsoever state I am 
therewith to be content. . 



Yes ; in a trial world like this, 
Where all that comes— is sent, 

Learn how divine a thing it is 
To smile and be content. 

Martin F, T upper. 



JUNE 24. 



^J^HE kindly word unspoken is a sin— 

A sin that wraps itself in purest guise ; 
\nd tells the heart that, doubting, looks within 
That not in speech, but thought, the virtue 
lies ! 

John Boyle O'Reilly. 



But speak, and hold not thy peace. 

Acts xviii. 9. 

Some slight good is also wrought 

Beyond self-satisfaction, 
When we are simply good in thought, 

Howe'er we fail in action. 

James Russell Lowell. 



JUNE 2v 



HHHERE is a name, in heaven bestowed ; 

* That name, which hails them sons of God, 
The friends of peace shall know. 

Bishop R. Mant 



Blessed are the peacemakers ; for they shall 
be called the children of God. 

Matt, v. 9. 



It is Thy care, my Father, 

That cherishes me now : 
It is Thy peace, my Father, 

That rests upon my brow. 

EUPHEMLA SAXBY, 



JUNE 26. 



T FONDLY dream it needs must be 

That, as my mother dealt with me, 
So with His children dealeth He. 

J. G. Whittiek. 



As one whom his mother comforteth, so will 
I comfort you. 

Is, Ix\i. 13. 



As one whose mother comforts him, 

I will lift up my head. 
No wound of Thine shall take the life 

From words which Thou hast said. 

A. L. Waring. 



JUNE 27. 



AS some rare perfume in a vase of clay 
Pervades it with a fragrance not its own 
So, when Thou dwellest in a mortal soul, 

All heaven's own sweetness seems around it 
thrown. 

Mrs. H. B. Stowe. 



His mouth is most sweet ; yea, He is alto- 
gether lovely. o 

& y Solomon's Song v. 16. 



His name yields the richest perfume, 
And sweeter than music His voice 

His presence disperses my gloom, 
And makes all within me rejoice. 



Newton. 



JUNE 28. 



H, 



_OME is more near, 
O Lord, by every passing day ; 

Home is more dear 
By every prayer I pray. 



Henr\ N. Cobb, 



Man goeth to his long home. 

Eccl. xii. s. 



Each step but takes me nearer home. 
Life's journey, long or short, is blest, 
If it but end in Heaven's rest ! 

Kate Cameron. 



JUNE 29, 



QEX earthly joy abidis never, 

^ Work for the joy that lasts forever ; 

For other joy is all but vain : 

All earthly joy returns in pain. 

William Duxbar 



At Thy right hand there are pleasures for 
evermore. 

PS. XVI. II, 



Worldly pleasures, earthly treasures, 
Joys and honors, will not stay. 

They often pain, and, oh ! how vain, 
Looking to eternity ! 

Joachim Neavdek 



JUNE 30. 



j^ERE brief is the sighing, 
And brief is the crying, 
For brief is the life ! 

Bernard of Ci ugni 



The time is short, 

r Cor. vii. 29. 



The less of this cold world, the more of Heaven 
The briefer life, the earlier immortality. 

MlLJlAN. 



JULY 1. 



* KD since 'tis certain, then, that we must 
1 die- 
No hope, no chance, no prospect of redress — 
Be it our constant aim unswervingly 
To tread God's narrow path of holiness. 

Rabbi Don Santob, 



Narrow is the wav. which leadeth unto life. 

Matt. vii. 14. 



So let us choose that narrow way 
Which leads no traveller's foot astray 
From realms of love, 

TOKGK MANRIQUK. 



JULY 2. 




- us love, hope, and faith in Thee to 
trust, 



Thou God most just ! 

Remit all our offences, we entreat 

Most good, most great ! 

Thomas Hevwood. 



Whosoever believeth in Him shall receive re- 
mission of sins. 

Acts x. 43. 



Thou infinite tenderness wilt pardon me 

H my heart murmured when my lips were still. 



A. Smith. 



JULY h 



\ ND my soul complaineth not, 
J ^ For she knows not pain or fear 
Clinging to her God in faith, 

Trusting though He slay her here. 



Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him. 

Job xiii. 15. 



The heart that trusts forever sings, 
And feels as light as it had wings : 
A well of peace within it springs. 

Isaac Williams. 



JULY 4. 



J SAW the vast Heaven encompassing all, 

Like children the stars to her came ; 
The exploits of man then seemed to me small,— 
Naught great save the Infinite's name. 

Eric Sjoberg. 



Great is our Lord, and of great power : His 
understanding is infinite. 

Ps. cxlvli. 5 



14 I lay my head upon Thy Infinite heart, 
I hide beneath the shelter of Thy wing." 



JULY $. 



TT 7HEN tempest-clouds are dark on high, 

His bow of love and peace 
Shines beauteous in the vaulted sky, 
A pledge that storms shall cease. 

Bernard Barton 



1 do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be 
for a token of a covenant between me and the 
earth. 

Gen. ix. 13. 



Raise Thou our eyes above 
To see a Father's love 
Beam, like a bow of promise, through the cloud. 

Mrs. Miles. 



JULY 6. 



JgE not afraid to pray — to pray is right. 

Pray if thou canst, with hope ; but evei 
pray, 

Though hope be weak, or sick with long delay : 
Pray in the darkness, if there be no light. 

Hartley Colbridge, 

Men ought always to pray, and not to faint. 

Luke xviii. x 

" Prayer pushes prayer 
Up into heaven's sublimer air ; 
Around the throne eternally 

They pass and still repass." 



JULY 7. 



T HO wears the cross prays oft and well ; 
Bruised herbs send forth the sweetest 
smell. 



SCHNOLKE. 



A bruised reed shall He not break. 

Is. xlii. 3. 



From trodden flowers the sweetest perfumes rise, 
From broken hearts goes incense to the skies ; 
The bruised reed with kindred care is blest, 
The troubled soul, at last, finds sweetest rest. 

Byron A. Bkooks. 



JULY 8. 



^JGLXT, mount above bereavements am 
pain, 

There count the loss and th' infinite gain. 
Ne'er a shadow, but bevond there's light 
Day sits enthroned 'bove blackest of night. 

Nina Gray. 



In the shadow of His hand hath He hid 



me. 

Is. xlix. 2. 



What to thee is shadow, to Him is day, 
And the end He knoweth. 

J. G. Whittled 



JULY 9/ 



<< A LITTLE further on," we say— 
" A little further on "— 
When hope deferred makes long delay, 
And few delights are won. 

Josephine Pollard. 

Cast not away therefore your confidence, 
which hath great recompense of reward. 

Hebrews x. 35. 

" Farther on— ah ! how much farther ? 
Count the milestones one by one. 
No : no counting, only trusting- 
It is better farther on." 



JULY 10. 



^^T ITH earth ' s P oor ? caresome droilings tired 
opprest, 

What right have I to lean upon Thy breast ;— 
Because Thou offerest to the weary, rest. 

Margaret J. Preston. 



But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew 
their strength ; they shall mount up with wines 
as eagles ; they shall run, and not be weary. 

Is. xl. 31. 



The Master's work may make weary feet, 
But it leaves the spirit glad. 

Mrs. Charles. 



JULY 11. 



I WOULD be joyful as my days go by, 
Counting God's mercies to me. 

A. D. F. Randolph. 



The earth, O Lord, is full of Thy mercy. 

Ps. cxix. 64, 



The charities that soothe and heal and bless, 
Are scattered at the feet of man like flowers. 

Wordsworth. 



JULY 12. 



JJOW sad 'twould be to see a masters hand 
Strike glorious notes upon a voiceless 
lute ; 

3ut, oh ! what pain, when at God's own com- 
mand, 

A heart-string thrills with kindness, but is 
mute. 

John Boyle O'Reilly 



A word spoken in due season, how good is it ! 

PROV. XV. 23. 



Only a word for the Master, 
Lovingly, quietly, said : 
Only a word ! 

Charlotte Murrav, 



JULY 13. 



WHEN within thy troubled breast 
Good and evil thoughts contest, 
Though unconscious thou mayst be, 
The Christ-spirit strives with thee. 

A. C. Lynch. 



Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. 

Eph. iv. 30. 



Then in my heart, Spirit of might, 

Awake the life within, 
And bid a spring-tide, calm and bright, 

Of holiness begin. 

T. Whytehead. 



JULY 14. 



JJIS ways are not as ways of ours ; 

His is the dust, the toil, the heat, 
And in the pathways strewn with flowers 
He knows the thorns which pierce our feet 

E. Norman Gunnison. 

Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an ex 
ample, that ye should follow His steps. 

i Pet. ii. 21. 



O Saviour ! give me ever the grace- 
To watch for these tracks of Thine, 

And gladly to walk in the roughest place 
Where Thy holy steps do shine. 

Mrs. L, F. Bakbh. 



JULY \$. 



IF our love were but more simple, 
We should take Him at His word ; 
And our lives would be all sunshine 
In the sweetness of our Lord. 

Frederick Wm. Faber 



Whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is tie. 

Prov. xvi. 20. 



» Of little faith ! " Yes, gracious Lord ! 
It is my constant grief 
That I so little trust Thy word : 

« Help Thou mine unbelief ! " ^ 



JULY 16. 



w 

V V E are waiting, Master, waiting, 
Wayworn, pressed with toils and strife ; 
Waiting, hoping, watching, praying, 
Till we reach the gates of life. 

Rev. Ray Palmer, D.D. 



And the Lord direct your hearts into the 
love of God, and into the patient waiting for 
Christ. 

? Thess. iii. 5. 

So, I think, we all are waiting, 
For we something better crave, 

This is but a life of waiting", 

" From the cradle to the grave." 

H. E. Randall 



JULY 17. 



HHHY words are sweet and strong ; 

• They fill my inward silences 
With music and with song. 

William C. Gannett, 



The Lord is my strength and song. 

Ex. XV. 2. 



Speak Thou, and heavenly joys 
Shall fill my heart with music sweet and calm, 
A holy psalm. 

Mary E. Atkinson. 



JULY 18. 



A FY God, I do not fear 

To yield myself to Thee ; 
However strange Thy will appear, 
It must be good for me. 

Rev. George Wade Robinson 



The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath 

e the everlasting arms. 

Deut. xxxiii. 27. 



O could we but relinquish all 
Our earthly props and simply fall 
On Thy almighty arms. 

Joseph Anstice. 



JULY 19. 



MEEK souls there are, who little dream 
Their daily strife an angel's theme, 
Or that the rod they take so calm 
Shall prove in heaven a martyr's palm. 



John Keble. 



He will beautify the meek with salvation. 

Ps. cxlix. 4, 



God hides some souls away, 
Sweetly to surprise us the last day. 

Mary Bolles Branch. 



JULY 20. 



gEEMS the voice so far above me ! 
Vet so full of mercy ! Teach me, 
Thou Divine One, if Thou love me, 
How in blindness, I may reach Thee. 

Mrs. A. B. C. Keexe. 



Unto you, O men, I call ; and my voice is to 
the sons of man. 

Fro v. viii. 4. 

Oft like a sudden pencil of rich light, 

Piercing the thickest umbrage of the wood 

Will shoot, amidst our troubles infinite, 
The Spirit's voice. 

Thomas Burridge, 



JULY 21. 



T^ATHER ! take not away 
The burden of the day, 
But help me that I bear it 
As Christ His burden bore. 

E. R. Ciiamplin. 

Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried 
our sorrows. 

Is. liii. 4. 

And now my cross is all supported, — 
Part on my Lord, and part on me : 

But as He is so much the stronger, 
He seems to bear it — I go free. 

Anna Warner. 



JULY 22. 



gEAR up, bear on, the end shall tell 

The dear Lord ordereth all things well ! 

J. G. Whittier. 



It shall be well with them that fear God. 

Eccl. viii. 12 



Nay, all we failed to understand, 

Under the hollow sky, 
Shall be clear at last in the visioned truth, 

The light of that home on high. 



JULY 23. 



T SHALL not want : whatever is good, 
* Of daily bread or angels' food 
Shall to my Fathers child be sure, 
So long as earth and Heaven endure. 

Charles F. Deems. 



My Father giveth you the true bread from 
heaven. JoHN vi 32< 



Are you sick ? His word can heal you. 

Are you weary with the strife ? 
Are you hungry ? He can fill you 

With the Heavenly Bread of Life ! 

Anna Shipton. 



JULY 24. 



^MVE thy heart's best treasures,— 
From fair Nature learn ; 
Give thy love— and ask not, 
Wait not a return. 

Adelaide Procter 



Do good, and lend, hoping for noth 



ing again, 

Luke vi. 35. 



For the treasure freely given 
Is the treasure that we hoard, 

Since the angels keep, in heaven, 
What is lent unto the Lord. 

J G. Saxb, 



JULY 25. 



T ORD, I am like to mistletoe, 

^ Which has no root, and cannot grow 

Or prosper, but by the same tree 

It clings about : so I by thee. 

Robert Herrick. 

For I am persuaded, that neither death, noi 
life, .... nor any other creature shall be able 
to separate us from the love of God which is in 
Christ Jesus our Lord. 

Rom. viii. 38, 39. 

Yea, He is with us, in us, and we live 

A part of Him, His children, linked by ties, 

Nor Death nor any creature shall destroy, — 
On whom our trust unfalteringly relies. 

Marcia M. Selman. 



JULY 26. 



Trust 

To H im our weakness, and we shall wake up 
After His likeness, and be satisfied. 

William Herbert. 



I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy 
likeness. 

Ps. xvii. 15. 



My time appointed I will wait, 

Until my last great change shall come ; 
Then He will open wide the Gate, 

And, satisfied, I shall go home. 

Rev. J. E. Rankin, D.D. 



JULY 27. 



ness 



O THE Christ who hath ascended, 
Now preparing thee a place ! 
They shall lead thee in before Him, 
Thou shalt see Him face to face ! 

Julia Gill. 



As for me, I will behold Thy face in righteous- 

Ps. xvii. 15. 



I shall behold His face, 

I shall His power adore, 
And sing the wonders of His grace 
For evermore ! 



T. Olivers. 



JULY 28. 



^ND sweet are all things, when we learn to 
prize them 

Not for their own sake, but His who grants 
them or denies them ! 

Aubrey de Vere- 



ls a 



Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he 
new creature ; old things are passed away ; be 
hold, all things are become new. 

2 Cor. r. 17. 

Around us ever lies the enchanted land, 

In marvels rich to Thine own sons displayed 

In finding Thee are all things round us found ; 
In losing Thee are all things lost beside. 

Jones Very 



JULY 29. 



F 



"N us Thy will be done- 
Touch Thou the spirit tone 
That brings our life with Thine in sweet accord. 



Cygnus 



That ye may stand perfect and complete in 
all the will of God. 



Col. iv. 12. 



Content thee— so the angel saith— 
Thy minor makes the triumph strain 

Sound sweeter on celestial breath— 
And God has use for all thy pain. 



Carl Spencep 



JULY 30. 



J goes before ! And so we may not look- 
Backward at all, but onward evermore. 

J. EC. T. 



I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest 

Matt. viii. 19. 



Finding, following, keeping, struggling, 

Is He sure to bless ? 
Angels, martyr^ prophets, virgins 

Answer, " Yes. 5 ' 

John Mason Neaj.e 



JULY 31. 




OW !— it is gone. Our brief hours travel 
post, 



Each with its thought or deed, its Why 01 
How,— 

But know each parting hour gives up a ghost, 
To dwell within thee— an eternal Now ! 

Samuel T. Coleridge. 

Be established in the present truth. 

2 Pet. i. 12, 

Not how we stood before, 
But how stand now— in truth, 
In love, in friendship, lore. 

E. R. Champlln 



AUGUST l. 



OF our vices we can frame 
A ladder, if we will but tread 
Beneath our feet each deed of shame. 

LONGFELLOV 



But I keep under my body, and bring it intc 
subjection. 



i Cor. ix. a?. 



Men may rise on stepping-stones 
Of their dead selves to higher things. 

A. Tennyson. 



AUGUST 2. 



GOD, my sins are manifold ; against my 
life they cry, 
And all my guilty deeds foregone up to Thy 
temple fly. 

Wilt Thou release my trembling soul, that tc 

despair is driven ? 
"Forgive!" a blessed voice replied, "and thou 

shalt be forgiven." 

Bishop Heber. 

If ye forgive men their trespasses, your heav- 
enly Father will also forgive you. 

Matt. vi. 14, 

And is the duty hard to do ? 
No one, dear Lord ! hath done to me 
Such wrong as I have done to Thee. 

Frederick Wm. Faber 



AUGUST 3. 



JUST to believe Thou hast, this day, 
Both will and power to save, 
Just to accept Thy finished work, 
Is all the part I have. 

Miss M. K. A. Stone. 

For He that cometh to God must believe that 
He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that 
diligently seek Him. . 

° * Heb. xi. 6. 

And so I laid this lesson to my heart 

Taught by the gentle spirit of Thy grace- 
He that would find Thee must believe Thou art, 
And wilt reward each soul that seeks Thy face. 

Joseph A. Torrey. 



AUGUST 4. 



A 

- 'VLL — all is turned to fair, 
Aye ! to a scheme of ordered happiness, 
So soon as we love God, or rather know 
That God loves us ! 

Chauncy Hare Townsuend, 



We know that all things work together for 
good to them that love God. 

Rom. viii. 28, 



So to the heart that knows Thy love, O Purest ! 

There is a temple, sacred evermore, 
And all the babble of life's angry voices 

Dies in hushed stillness at its peaceful door. 

Mrs. H. B. Stowe. 



AUGUST $. 



q^HE discipline wilt grow more dear 

^ As stain by stain shall disappear ; 
Perfecting love will banish fear. 

Marie Mason 



Perfect love casteth out fear. . 

i John iv. 18. 



And now 1 pray for love, 
Deep love to God and man ; 

A love that will not fail, 
However dark His plan, 

Ednah t>. Cheney. 



AUGUST 6. 



A FINE is an unchanging love, 
^ Higher than the heights above, 
Deeper than the depths beneath, 
Free and faithful, strong as death. 

W. COWPER 

That ye, being rooted and grounded in love. 
May be able to comprehend with all saints what 
is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height ; 
And to know the love of Christ which passeth 
knowledge. 

Efh. iii. 17, 18, iq. 

Sweet at the dawning hour, 

Thy boundless love to tell ; 
And when the night wind shuts the flower, 

Still on the theme to dwell. 

LVTE 



AUGUST 7. 



SAVIOUR, in this chastening hand 
Let us love and mercy see, 
By it, draw our wounded hearts 
Near, and nearer unto Thee. 

L. A. H. 



Let Thine hand help me. 

Ps. cxix. 173. 



And sometimes in my hours of grief 
For moments I have come to stand 

Where, in the sorrows on me laid, 
I felt a loving Father's hand. 

Phoebe Cars 



AUGUST 8. 



T 

± HERE is in God, some say, 
A deep, but dazzling darkness ; as men here 
Say it is late and dusky, because they 
See not all clear. 

Henry Vaughan. 



Who is among you that feareth the Lord, 
. . . . that walketh in darkness, and hath nc 
light ? let him trust in the name of the Lord. 

Is. I. IO. 

Fearest sometimes that thy Father 

Hath forgot ? 
When the clouds around thee gather, 

Doubt Him not. 

Charles Rudolph Hagenbach 



AUGUST 9. 



DREAD is the leisure up above, 
The while He sits whose name is love, 
And waits as Noah did the dove, 
To see if she would fly to him. 

Jean Ingelow. 



The Lord .... is long-suffering to usward, 
not willing that any should perish, but that all 
should come to repentance. 



He waits for us while, houseless things, 
We beat about with bruised wings, 
With open windows from the prime, 
All night, all day, He waits sublime. 

Jean Ingelow. 



AUGUST 10. 



T 

X HE powers God gave — have they 
Been nurtured, and, within their humble sphere, 
Diffused around love, — joy,— intelligence ? 

Anna Maria Wells. 



Present your bodies a living sacrifice, noi>, 
acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable 
service. 



Rom. xii. 



And beautiful 
It is to use the power one hath for good. 

Sophocles. 



AUGUST 11. 



MY care shall be, His sacred will 
To understand and to fulfil : 
His service shall my life employ, 
His favor is my highest joy. 

Joseph Lathrop, 



Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understand 
ins what the will of the Lord is. 

& Eph v. 17. 



May I be nerved to labors high and pure, 
And Thou Thy child to do Thy work, employ. 

John Sterling. 



AUGUST 12. 



pORGIVE that oft my spirit wears 

Her time and strength in trivial cares, 
Enfold her in Thy changeless peace, 
So she from all but Thee may cease ! 

Angelus Silesids. 



Let the peace of God rule in yourhearts. 

Col. iii 15, 



Evermore in heart, and mind, 
There our peace in Him we find. 
To our own Eternal Friend, 
Thitherward let us ascend. 

A. P. Stanley 



AUGUSi 13- 



HOPELESS ? " And heaven remains ? 
I see. You are not willing to be led 
You would know why and where you go. 

E. S. S. 



Hope thou in God. 



Deliver us from Satan's arts, 

And let us build our hopes on Thee, 
Down in our very heart of hearts ! 

Martin Luther 



AUGUST 14. 



/~\XLY the Lord can hear — 

Only the Lord can see. 
The struggle within, how dark and drear, 
Though quiet the outside be. 

Hymns of the ChV7.cn Militant 



Shall not God search this out ? 

Ps. xliv. 21. 



The hidden motive of the soul 

That action underlies, 
Commends the deed, or else condemns 

In His impartial eyes. 

Mary Packard Rollins. 



AUGUST 1J. 



T 



IRED, very tired !— but I will patient be : 
Nor will I murmur at the weary way. 



William O. Stoddard. 



To them that have no might He increaseth 



The measure of the help you need. The way 
That's hidden, the point at which your steps 
must stay, 

God's care begins. So trust. 

E. S. S. 



strength. 



Is. xl. 29. 



Your weariness shows just 



AUGUST 16. 



live in darkness— in despair to die- 
Is this indeed the boon to mortals given ? 
Is there no port— no rock of refuge nigh ? 
There is— to those who fix their anchor— hope 
in heaven. 

C. C. COLTON. 



For God, who commanded the light to shine 
out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts. 

2 Cor. iv. 6, 



So heaven shines downward all the while, 
And lights us with its constant smile, 

Louise BushNell 



AUGUST 17. 



nPHROUGH the dark night lie still ; God's 
A faithful grace 
Lies hid, like morning, underneath the sea, 
Let thy slow hours roll like these weary star^ 
Down to the level ocean, patiently. 

Wm. Caldwell RoecoE. 

Be still and know that I am God, 

Ps. xlvi, 10. 

Slowly, by God's hand unfurled, 
Down around the weary world. 
Falls the darkness : O, how still 
Is the working of His wilh 

William H. Furxess 



AUGUST 18. 



S 



'PEAK to me ever, Lord, 
In accents low and sweet, let earth's turmoil be 
still, 

That every tender word 
Of Thine my spirit's inmost depths may sweetly 
thrill. 

Emma Campbell. 



Hear attentively the noise of His v 



oice. 

Job xxxvii a. 



We know such hours, when the dim dewy night 

Bid day's hot turmoil cease ; 
When star by star steals noiselessly in sight, 

With silent smiles of peace. 



Lucy Fletcher. 



AUGUST 19. 



B' 



JUT who can harm the soul which Thou 
Art swift to hear, and strong to save ? 
The records of Thy praise unfold 
Thy love and faithfulness of old. 

Charlotte Elizabeth. 



Behold, God is my salvation ; I will trust, and 
not be afraid. Is xii 2 



God's loved ones need not fear ; 

Wherever He 

May be 
The Fathers hand is near. 

' R^v. W. T. Sleeper 



AUGUST 20. 



A, 



.RT Thou the Good ? 
To Thee, then, with a thirsting heart I turn, 
And stand, and at Thy fountain hold my urn, 
As aye I stood. 

Francis E. Abbott. 



I will give unto him that is athirst of the 
fountain of the water of life freely. 



O Lord, of good the fountain free. 
Close by our hard days journeying 
Be Thou the all-sufficing spring, 

And hourly let us drink of Thee. 

Susan Ccoudge 



AUGUST 21. 



r T~ O Thy benign., indulgent care. 

^ Father, this light, this breath we owe , 
And all we have, and all we are, 

From Thee, great source of being, flow. 

Joachim Justus Breithaupt. 



For with Thee is the fountain of life ; in Thy 
lisfht shall we see light. 



Ps. xxxvi. 9. 



Fountain of light and living breath, 
Whose mercies never fail nor fade, 

Fill me with life that hath no death. 
Fill me with light that hath no shade. 

John Quakles 



AUGUST 22. 



J JERE, at His feet, your burden lay ; 

Why 'neath it bend another day, 
Since one so loving calls to thee, 
" Oh ! heavy laden, come to Me ! " 

Elenok Kirk 



My burden is light. 

Matt. xi. 3c. 



Then let us kneel with humble hearts 
To the God whom we revere — 

Who never yet laid that burden on 
Which He gave not grace to bear. 

Lays of the Martyrs 



AUGUST 2*. 



IT is enough, that I as he, 
The servant of his Lord should be, 
And I may plead with God's sweet grace — 
" Let this cup pass away." 

Rev. W. C. Richards, 

If it be possible, let this cup pass from me 
svertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt. 

Matt. xxvi. 39, 

Yet while I sue, like my dear Lord, 

Some bitter cup to shun, 
Like Him the murmur I must fold, 
In high resolve, and purpose bold. 

Rev. W. C. Richard-. 



AL'GL'ST 



24, 



And He who feeds the rav< 
Will give His children br 



And God feedeth them. How 
e ye better thai; the four's : 



L-.-s 



Thou, by whose hand the sparrow 

Thy gifts -vith gracious speed 
Scatter upon my head, since I am 

JTTAW ■ 



AUGUST 2*. 



HILE thy heart shall flow outward 
To gladden and bless, 

The fount at its centre 
Will never grow less. 

Prof. Thomas C. Upham. 



The merciful man doeth good to his own soul 

Prov. xi. 17. 



And a thousand million lives are His, 
Who carries the world in His sympathies 



Rev. H. W. Parker. 



AUGUST 26. 



]Vt^ ^ eart was very sad wit ^ d° u bt and fear 
x And a long road I traveled wearily, 
When, wondrous love ! my Lord Himself drew 
near, 

And Jesus walked with me. 

Mrs. Mary Spring Walker. 



My presence shall go with thee, and I will 
give thee rest. 

Ex. xxxiii. 14. 



So, weary of each earthly thing, 
My spirit turns to Thine ! 

Alphonse De Lamartine 



AUGUST 27. 



T CANNOT dread the darkness when Thou 

wilt watch o'er me, 
Nor smile to greet the sunrise unless Thy smile 

I see. 



Eliza Scudder. 



Yet the Lord will command His loving-kind- 
ness in the day-time, and in the night His song 
shall be with me. 



Come to me in the evening shade ; 
And if my heart from Thee have strayed, 
Oh ! bring it back, and from afar 
Smile on me like Thine evening star. 

Henry V. T. 



AUGUST 28. 



Sustain, sustain, 

Divinest Comforter, to Thee I fly ; 

Let me not fly in vain ! 
Support me with Thy love, or else I die ! 

Mary Howitt 



I flee unto Thee. 

Ps. cxliii, 9 



Lord, to Thee alone I fly, 

Thou must " search M and sanctify ! 

Maria A. West, 



AUGUST 29. 



T 



HEY shall not wander from that blessed 



way ; 

Nor heat, nor cold, nor weariness, nor sin, 
Nor any clouds in that eternal day 

Trouble them more who once have entered in. 

William Stoddard. 



And to you, who are troubled, rest with us, 
when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed. 

2 Thess. i. 7. 



Nae ane's w T ae-worn an' wearie, 
Nae ane gangs dark an' drearie, 
T the Far-awa' Lan\ 



J. E Rankin 



AUGUST 30. 



JF long in heaven His love delays, 

Hiding from man its wondrous ways, 
Well I know it will come at last, 
When the little round of life is past. 

Rose Terry Cooke, 

There shall be no more death, neither sorrow 
nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain 
for the former things are passed away. 

Rev. xxi u 

Ah ! little I'll reck, when the journey is o'er, 
Of the burdens and griefs I so dreaded and bore : 
They'll all be forgot as I enter the door. 



AUGUST 31. 



REDEEM thy misspent time that's past. 
And live this day as if thy last ; 
Improve thy talents with due care, 
'Gainst the great day thyself prepare. 

Thomas Ken. 

See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as 
fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time. 

Eph. v. 15, 16. 

" Forenoon, and afternoon, and night,— 
Yea, that is Life : make this forenoon sublime, 
This afternoon a psalm, this night a prayer — 
And Time is conquered, and thy crown is won ! ' 



SEPTEMBER 1. 



T THOUGHT that the course of the pilgrim 
to heaven 

Would be bright as the sun, and as glad as 
the morn : 

Thou show'dst me the path, — it was dark and 
uneven, 

All rugged with rocks and all tangled with 
thorn. 

R. Grant. 

We must through much tribulation enter into 
the kingdom of God. 

Acts xiv. 22. 

By the thorn-road, and no other, 
Is the mount of triumph won ; 

Tread it without shrinking, brother, 
jesus trod it : press thou on ! 

S. Johnson 



SEPTEMBER 2. 



^\/\/ rE Thy hand >~~ [t Ieads us > 11 sup 
ports us ; 

We hear Thy voice —it counsels and it courst us 
And then we turn away —and still Thy kindness 
Forgives our blindness. 

Sir John Bowring. 



The Lord your God is gracious and merciful 
and will not turn away His face from you, if ye 
return unto Him. 

2 Chron. xxx. 9. 



Not Thou from us, O Lord, but we 
Withdraw ourselves from Thee. 

A. H. Clough. 



SEPTEMBER h 



TTJ'HO trusts In God's unchanging love, 
' * Builds on the rock that naught can move, 

George Neumark. 



The rock of my strength, and my refuge, is 
in God. 



Ps. lxii. 7. 



Blest is my lot, whatever befall ; 
What can disturb me, who appal ; 
While, as my strength, my rock, my all, 
Saviour, I cling to Thee. 

Charlcite Elliot. 



SEPTEMBER 4. 



as the glow-worm, that itself unseen, 
Glads with the lustre of its tiny lamp 
Its little neighborhood of blade and flower, 
So grant, O Lord, my love of Thee may shine. 

Rev. W. Calvert. 

Let us not love in word, neither in tongue 
but in deed and in truth. 

i John iii. 18. 

Meek Jesus, to my soul Thy spirit lending, 
Teach me to live, like Thee, in lowly love, 

With humblest service all Thy saints befriending 
Until I serve before Thy throne above. 

G. W. Bethune. 



SEPTEMBER 



QEEK then the covenant ark of prayer, 
^ For He that slumbereth not is there, 
His ear is open to thy cry. 

Margaret Mercer. 



He that keepeth thee will not slumber. 

Ps. cxxi. 3. 



Sleep without or fear or fright ! 
Our Father wakes ! Good-night ! good-night ! 

Karl Theodor Korner, 



SEPTEMBER 6. 



F?OR us He lives through all the passing ages. 
Dropping through unclosed hands His 
gifts to men, 
The angel who records them on its pages 
Finds only loving deeds to us to pen. 

M. E. WiNSLOW. 

Thou openest Thine hand, they are filled with 
eood. 

Ps. civ. 28. 



God's care no failure knows ; 

'Tis only sins constrain 

His hand — with pain — 
To close. 

Rev. W. R. Cochrane 



SEPTEMBER 7. 



T3 Y this sad heart pierced through because I 
love thee, 

Let love and mercy to contrition move thee ! 

Jerome Savonarola. 



Hereby perceive we the love of God, because 
He laid down His life for us. 



i John iii. 16. 



O wait ! — to Thee my weary soul is crying,— 
Wait for me ! — yet why ask it, when I see, 
With feet nailed to the cross, Thou'rt waiting 
still for me ? 

Lope de Vega. 



SEPTEMBER 8. 



A ^ ONE e'er shall lack a service, 
^ Who only seek His will ; 
And He doth teach His children 
To suner and he still. 



Axx:, Shift: 



Their strength is to sit still. 



Is. XXX. 



Does thy soul complain 
It lives in vain ? 
Xot vainly does he live who can endure. 



SEPTEMBER 9. 



B, 



)UT Jesus is looking 
Constantly, tenderly down 
To earth, and sees 
Those who strive to please. 



Charlotte Murray, 



Let every one of us please his neighbour foi 
his good to edification. For even Christ pleased 
not Himself. 



Rom. xv. 2, 3. 



Since life's best joys consist in peace and ease, 
And though but few can serve, yet all may please 
O let the ungentle spirit learn from hence, 
A small unkindness is a great offence. 

Hannah Mors, 



SEPTEMBER 10. 



^jHHY grace first made me feel my sin, 
It taught me to believe, 
Then in believing, peace I found, 
And now I live, I live. 

HORATIUS BONAR. 



Holding faith, and a good conscience. 

i Tim. i. 19, 



1 feel within me 
A peace above all earthly dignities — 
A still and quiet conscience. 

SlIAKSPEAR EL 



SEPTEMBER 11. 



W HAT I possess, or what I crave, 
Brings no content, great God, to me, 
If what I would, or what I have, 
Be not possessed and blest in Thee. 

John Quarles. 

For of Him, and through Him, and to Him 
are all things. Ro „ xi . * 

In having all things, and not Thee, what have I 
Not having Thee, what have my labors got ? 

Let me enjoy but Thee, what further crave I ? 
And having Thee alone, what have I not ? 

Francis Quarlbs. 



SEPTEMBER 12. 



J SLEPT, and dreamed that life was beauty , 
I woke,— and found that life was dutv 

Disciples' Hymn-book. 



Thou shalt do that which is right and good 
in the sight of the Lord. 

Deut. vi. 18. 



And we, amidst the daily path of duty, 

May keep the oil still burning in our breast ; 
So shall the toilsome path grow bright with 
beauty, 

And every day shall be a day of rest. 

M. E. Beck, 



SEPTEMBER \h 




HOU saidst, and Thou art truth, Thou'dst 
with me be ; 



Then willing come, that I may bear much fruit, 
And worthy of the stock on which it grew. 

VlTTORIA COLONNA. 



He that abideth in me, and I in him, the 
same bringeth forth much fruit. ^ ^ ^ 



Fruitful, if in Christ abiding, 
Holy, through the Spirit's guiding, 
All must be well. 



Mary Bowly 



SEPTEMBER 14. 



^^"EA, through life, death, through sorrow 
and thro' sinning, 
He shall suffice me, for He hath sufficed ; 
Christ is the end, for Christ was the bemnnine 
Christ the beginning, for the end is Christ. 

Frederic W. H. Myers. 



But our sufficiency is of God. 

2 Cor. iii, 5 



Who God possesseth 

In nothing is wanting ; 
Alone God sufficeth. 

Santa Teresa 



SEPTEMBER l£ 



11 f AY we find God, and feel His presence 
^ dear, 
Clasping our spirits like an atmosphere. 

William H. Burleigh. 



In Thy presence is fulness of joy. 



Ps. xvi. ii« 



Quiet from God ! how beautiful to keep 
This treasure, the All-merciful hath given ; 

To feel when we awake, and when we sleep, 
Its incense round us like a breath from heaven 

Sarah J. WtUJAMS. 



SEPTEMBER 16. 



'HO takes his cross and follows 
With solemn will and choice, 
He feels Thy hand uplifting, 
He hears Thy calling voice. 

Harriet Ware Hall. 



I the Lord have called thee in righteousness 
and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee. 

Is. xlii. 6. 



Long listening to Thy words, 
My voice shall catch Thy tone, 

And locked in Thine, my hand shall grow 
All loving like Thine own. 



B T, 



SEPTEMBER 17, 



IF o'er the fields such lurid robes be spread, 
Will He not care for you, ye faithless ! say, 
Is He unwise ? or are ye less than they ? 



Tames Thomson. 



I will be as the dew unto Israel : he shall 
grow as the lily. Hosea xiv< 5 , 



With smile of trust and folded hands, 
The passive soul in waiting stands 
To feel, as flowers, the sun and dew, 
The One true Life its own renew. 



J. G. Whittier. 



SEPTEMBER 18. 



''JMS meet, O Lord, to cast my care 

On Thee, who wilt the burden bean 
And own the ills I now survey, 
Sufficient to the passing day. 

Charlotte Elizabeth 



Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. 

Matt. vi. 34. 



Thy cares and burdens day by day 
Bring boldly at His feet to lay. 

M. E. Winsl-w. 



SEPTEMBER 19. 



T 



TEMPTATIONS sore obstruct my way, 
And ills I cannot flee : 
Oh, give me strength, Lord, as my day, 
For good remember me ! 

25 Thomas Haweis, 



Thou shalt not be forgotten of me, 

Is. xliv. 21. 



When Thou Thy jewels up dost bind, that day 
Remember us, we pray, 

Jeremy Taylor. 



SEPTEMBER 20. 



"^T^THO art Thou, Lord ? and why to me so 
wondrous kind ? 
Quickly the voice replies, 
I am the Shepherd, who my straying lamb 
would find. 

Emma Campbell. 



So will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver 
them out of all places where they have been 
scattered. 



Ezek. xxxiv. 12. 



So the Great Shepherd leads the heavenly flock 
From faithless pleasures full into the storms 
Of life, where long they bear the bitter blast 
Until at length the vernal sun looks forth. 

James Grahame. 



SEPTEMBER 21. 



WHAT should appal me in a place 
That brings me hourly nearer Thee ? 
Where I may almost see Thy face- 
Surely 'tis here my soul would be. 



EUPHEMIA SaXBY. 



I will trust, and not be afraid. m 

IS. Xll. 2. 



Afraid ? Afraid of what ? 
What does earth hold that can compare 
With God's omnipotence ! Trust to His care. 
Make faith in Him your staff. 



E. S. S. 



SEPTEMBER 22. 



^~^YER my life Thy mercy flows, and will 

Until in death this mortal frame is still, 
Rejoicing then, aloft I'll soar, to dwell with 
Thee forevermore. 

T. Dwight Crane. 

The ransomed of the Lord shall return, and 
come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy 
upon their heads. 

Is. XXXV. IO. 

O Thou who art of grace the fountain, 
Help us in praise to find employ, 

Till we ascend Thy heavenly mountain, 
With songs and everlasting joy ! 

Rev. E. Johnson. 



SEPTEMBER 23. 



T KNOW, for lost men my Redeemer hath 
* died,— 

That faith in His name is the passport to bliss , 
But can a poor sinner in that land reside, 

Who loves the dear Saviour so little in this ? 

E. Porter Dyer. 

And you that were sometime alienated and 
enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now 
hath He reconciled, in the body of His flesh 
through death, to present you holy, and un- 
blamable, and unreprovable, in His sight. 

COL. i. 21, 22. 

But, when the Lord shall call thee home, 
Thou, fitted then, a spirit free 
From weakness and mortality, 
Shalt aye remain. 

Robert Wa.ce 



SEPTEMBER 24. 



J^OR the heart grows rich in giving • 

All its wealth is living grain ; 
Seeds, which mildew in the garner, 
Scattered, fill with gold the plain. 

Mrs. Charles. 

There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth 
and there is that withholdeth more than is meet 
but it tendeth to poverty. 

Prov. xi. 24. 

And the more thou spendest 

From thy little store, 
With a double bounty, 

God will give thee more. 

Adelaide A. Procter 



SEPTEMBER 25. 



GIVE me to bear Thy easy yoke, 
And every moment watch and pray; 
And still to things eternal look, 
And hasten to Thy glorious day. 

Charles Wesley. 



Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me ; 
. For my yoke is easy and my burden is 

light. 

■ Matt. xi. 29, 30. 



Thy secret voice invites me still 

The sweetness of Thy yoke to prove, 

And fain I would ; but though my will 
Seem fixed, yet wide my passions rove. 

Gerhard Tersteegen. 



SEPTEMBER 26. 



jpOOR and afflicted, Lord, are Thine, 
Among the great they seldom shine ; 
Yet though the world may think it strange, 
They would not with the world exchange. 

Thomas Kelly. 



For He shall stand at the right hand of the 
poor, to save him from those that condemn his 
soul. 

Ps. cix. 31. 



And I have learned, the weakest ones 
Are kept securest from life's harms ; 

And that the tender lambs alone 
Are carried in the shepherd's arms. 

Phoebe Caky, 



SEPTEMBER 27, 



T^OREVER from the hand that takes 

■ One blessing from us, others fall : 
And, soon or late, our Father makes 
His perfect recompense to all. 

J, G. Whittier. 



The Lord will perfect that which concerneth 
me. 



Ps. cxxxviii. 8. 



Look up ; beyond the cross behold the crown 
And for all wrongs below all rights above. 

Martin F. Tupper. 



SEPTEMBER 28. 



gATAN desires us, great and small, 
As wheat, to sift us, and we all 
Are tempted. 

H. W. Longfellow 



Behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that 
he may sift you as wheat. 

Lu*ce xxii. 3T. 



We shall be sifted till the strength 
Of self-conceit be changed at length 
To meekness. 

H W. Longfellow. 



SEPTEMBER 29. 



GOD, who the universe doth hold 
In His fold, 
Is my shepherd, kind and heedful. 

Francis Davison. 



e shall feed His flock like a shepherd. 

Is. xl. ii, 



Lo, my Shepherd's hand divine ! 
Want shall never more be mine. 
In a pasture fair and large 
He shall feed His happy charge. 

[ames Merrick 



SEPTEMBER 30. 



To-day 

Slips quickly by, — to-morrow's but a link, 
And while we idly dally, dream, or think. 
Our golden opportunity goes by. 

Mrs. E. V. Hill. 

Walk in wisdom toward them that are with- 
out, redeeming the time. 

Col. iv. 5. 



" Oh, the wasted hours of life 
That have drifted by ; 
Oh, the good we might have done, 
Lost without a sigh." 



OCTOBER 1. 



1\ IE Thy way in mercy show, 

And on me Thy grace bestow. 

From the Weissenbrunn Hymn 



Thou wilt shew me the path of life. 

Ps. xvi. it, 



Unless Thou show to us Thine own true way, 
No man can find it ; Father ! Thou must lead, 

Michael Angelo. 



OCTOBER 2. 



A FATHER'S hand we felt ; 
x A Father's love we knew ; 
'Mid tears of penitence we knelt, 
And found His promise true. 

Hastings. 

Serving the Lord with all humility of mind, 
and with many tears. 

Acts xx. 19. 

Blest tears of soul-felt penitence ! 

In w r hose benign, redeeming flow 
Is felt the first, the only sense 

Of guiltless joy that guilt can know. 

Moore. 



OCTOBER 3. 



qpRUST the dear Lord, and ye shall hear 

!*■ The songs He gives at night ; 
Though hang the dark clouds over near, 
The lining still is bright. 



Elizabeth Oakes Smith. 



Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temp- 
tations ; knowing this, that the trying of your 
faith worketh patience. 



James i. 2, 3. 



And though sometimes Thou seem'st Thy face 
to hide 

As one that hath His love withdrawn from rnc 
Tis that my faith may to the full be tried. 

Thomas Ellwoob, 



OCTOBER 4 



V \ HERE Thou art most 
Beloved, is room for all ! The heart grows wid 
That holdeth Thee ! 

Dora Geeenwell. 



If we love one another. God dwelleth in us 
and His love is perfected in us. 

i John iv, 12 



O human heart ! thou hast a song 
For all that to the earth belong. 
Whene'er the golden chain of love 
Hath linked thee to the heaven above. 

S. F. Adams, 



OCTOBER ?. 



i\ O time to pray ! 
Must care or business' urgent call 
So press us as to take it all, 
Each passing day ?" 



Watch and pray. 

Matt. xxvi. 41 



Hast thou no pining want, or wish, or care, 
That calls for holy prayer? 

Margaret Mercer. 



OCTOBER 6. 



R 

UOW, mortal, bow, before thy God, 
Nor murmur at His chastening rod ■ 
Fragile being of earthly clay, 
Think on God's eternal sway ! 

Thomas Campbell, 



Lay hold on eternal life. 

i Tim. vl ta 



Lo, I, Eternity, warn thee, 

O Man, that oft thou think on me, 

The sinner's punishment and pain, 

To them who love their God, rich gain ? 

Daniele Wulffek. 



OCTOBER 7. 



HEN earthly losses try his spirit sore, 
And from his hands the treasure slips away, 
Faith gives the promise of a brighter store 
Where " rust cannot consume," nor time decay. 

Mrs. H. W. Chadbourxe. 

But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, 
where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt. 

Matt. vi. 20. 

He keeps dependent, children of His grace, 
Lest trust in wealth should trust in God dis- 
place. 

Sorrows have promise ; ills the faithful bear 
Are left behind them here, exchanged for glory 
there. 

Henry Fauntleroy. 




OCTOBER 8. 




For who hath known the mind of the Lord, 
that he may instruct Him ? 

t Cor. ii. 16. 



Then be content, poor heart ! 
God's plans, like lilies, pure and white unfold. 
Y\ e must not tear the close-shut leaves apart ; 
Time will reveal the calyxes of gold. 

Mrs. May Riley Smith. 



OCTOBER 9. 



0 WANDERING one, canst thou reject 
such love ? 

Will not the thought suffice thy heart to move r 
The Father longs to have you near His side ; 
Will you not come and in His love abide ? 

William Norris Burr. 



Seek ye the Lord while He may be found. 

Is. lv. 6. 



I venture out, and cast myself 

Upon His loving heart, 
I find how blessed 'tis to come, 

However hard to start. 

Mrs. Helen E. Brown. 



OCTOBER 10. 



(jTOD doth not need 
Either man's work or His own gifts ; who best 
Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best ; His 
state 

Is kingly ; thousands at His bidding speed. 

John Milton. 

For God is the King of all the earth. 

Ps. xlvii. 

I know my God He hath no need of me, 
Nor any instrument to work His will ; 

Wherefore I think I should more grateful be 
That He doth use me still. 

R R. Bowker. 



OCTOBER 11. 



BUT sometimes he whom no one can observe 
Nearing with show of love the Father's 
breast, 

Comes nearer to it than do all the rest, 
Just through his utter earnestness to serve. 

Charlotte Fiske Bates. 



Do good, O Lord, unto those that be good, 
and to them that are upright in their hearts. 

Ps. cxxv. 4. 

So do I gather strength and hope anew ; 

For well I know Thy patient love perceives 
Not what I did, but what I strove to do. 

Elizabeth Akers. 



OCTOBER 12. 



JjpS promises, so rich, so great, 

Are my support and stay ; 
I'll drop the anchor Hope ahead 
And wish, but wait for day. 

Presbyterian. 



Which hope we have as an anchor of the 
soul, both sure and steadfast. 

Hebrews vi. 19. 



Hope through the watches of the night : 
Hope till the morrow bring the light 
Hope till thy faith be lost in sight- 
Abound in hope. 

Kennedy, 



OCTOBER \h 



T EAP not at praise. Sink not at censure s 
^ tone. 

Words cannot change your worth. Why give 
them heed ? ^ 

Laura Garland Carr. 



Man looketh on the outward appearance, but 
the Lord looketh on the heart. 

i Sam, xvi. 7. 



Lord! therefore .make my heart upright, 

Whate'er my deeds do seem ; 
And righteous rather in Thy sight, 

Than in the world's esteem. 

George Wither. 



OCTOBER 14. 



T IS s "' eet to ! To learn, to know, to be 
To bravely toil, and gain the mastery 
In every strife. To aim at no mean height 
Of intellectual strength, or moral ricxht. 



o 1 

Mrs. E. C. Whitney. 



1 press toward the mark for the prize of the 
high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 

Phil. iii. i 4 , 



Raise each low aim, refine each high emotion, 
That with more ardent footsteps I may press 
Toward Thy holiness. 

J. D. Burns 



OCTOBER 15. 



LISTEN ! listen ! thee He seeks ; 
Knocking, knocking ; yes, He speaks : 
What ! poor soul, dost thou not know Him ? 
With night dews His locks are wet. 

Rev. J. E. Rankin, D.D. 

It is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, 
saying, .... Open to me, for my head is filled 
with dew, and my locks with the drops of the 

night. Solomon's Song v. 2. 

Lord, what am I, that, with unceasing care, 
Thou didst seek after me,— that Thou didst 
wait, 

Wet with unhealthy dews, before my gate, 
And pass the gloomy nights of winter there ? 

Lope de Vega. 



OCTOBER 16. 



\ XD Thou hadst marked my path, thou 
^ lowly : 

E'en to my meanness Thou didst give 
Thy Spirit,— Thou, so high, so holy ; 

And I, Thy creature, live. 

Jacob Bellamy 



Walk humbly with thy God. 



Mi cam vi. 8 



To walk with Thee, my God. 

O blessed, blessed grace ; 
My homely features, Lord, shall shine 

For looking in Thy face, 



OCTOBER 17. 



0 HEAVENLY Father, teach us how 
To live, and how to die ! 

Augusta. Moore, 



For whether we live, we live unto the Lord 
and whether we die, we die unto the Lord. 

Rom. xiv. 8. 



Learn to live in peace and love, 
Like the perfect ones above ;— 
Learn to die without a fear, 
Feeling Thee, my Father, near. 

William H. Furness. 



OCTOBER 18. 



gUT Thou, who walkest, Priest Most High 
Thy golden lamps among, 
What things are weak, and near to die, 
Thou makest fresh and strong. 

Family Treasury. 



In Thine hand it is to make great, and to give 
strength unto all. 

i Chrox. xxix. 12. 



Fed from a hidden bowl, 
A lamp burns in my soul 
All days. 

Charles G. Ames, 



OCTOBER 19. 



A 



ND the night cometh, chill with dew, 
O, Father '.—let Thy light break through ! 

J. G. Whittier. 



The Lord will lighten my darkness. 

2 Sam. xxii. 29. 



And He, He is the Light, He is the Sun 
That draws us out of darkness, and transmutes 
The noisome earth -damp into heaven's own 

breath - LUCY Lakcom. 



OCTOBER 20. 

J^ACH of God's soldiers bears 

A sword divine : 
Stretch out thy trembling hands 
To-day for thine ! 

Adelaide A. Procter. 

Put on the whole armour of God. 

Eph. vi. n, 

We have chosen to follow the crucified Lord, 
Though He lead us through dangers of fire and 
sword ; 

We know not what perils await us before, 

But the tents we have left we will enter no more. 

Charles F. Richardson. 



OCTOBER 21. 



ALL Nature is but Art, unknown to thee ; 
All Chance, Direction, which thou canst 
not see ; 

All Discord, Harmony not understood ; 
All partial Evil, universal Good. 

r Alexander Pope. 



His work is perfect. 

Deut. xxxii. 4. 



Who will not count it true, that love- 
Blessing, not cursing —rules above, 
And that in it we live and move. 

Archbishop Trench. 



OCTOBER 22. 



/^FFLICTIONS, mercies, health, and pain, 
How long shall these be all in vain 
To teach this heart of pride ? 

Rev. R. M. McCheyxe. 

Thine eyes are upon the haughty, that Thou 
mayest bring them down. 

2 Sam. xxii. 28. 

' O pity, great Father of light/ then I cried, 
' Thy creature, who fain would not wandei 
from Thee ! 
Lo, humbled in dust, I relinquish my pride ; 
From doubt and from darkness Thou only 
canst free.' 

James Beat-tie. 



OCTOBER 23. 



D 



EAR Lord ! our weakness, pitying, see, 
And hear our cry ; 
The upward look is known to Thee, 
The deep-drawn sigh ! 



Canon Bateman, 



He regarded their affliction, when He heard 
their cry Ps cvi ^ 



O Saviour ! who can teach as Thou ? 

Who only knowest all, 
Blending divinest sympathy 

With every upward call. 

Mrs. A. E. Ashby. 



OCTOBER 24. 



ToWARD Thy voice I grope, 
Brother, Friend, Lord ! althongh with many 
fall, 

And sore bewilderment, and baffled hope. 

Lucy Larcom. 



The Spirit and the bride say, Come. 

Rev. xxii. 17. 



Hearken, hearken ! 
God speaketh to thy soul, 
Using the supreme voice which doth confound 
All life with consciousness of Deity. 

Mrs. E. B. Browning. 



OCTOBER 2$. 



AFFLICTION, when I know it, is but this 
A deep alloy, whereby man toughened is 
To bear the hammer. 



John Fletcher. 



We are all the work of Thy hand. 



Is. lxiv. 8. 



Tis the Master who holds the chisel ; 

He knows just where 
Its edge should be driven sharpest. 



Margaret J. Preston 



OCTOBER 26. 



lnen let us live as pilgrims do ! 
Let not the world our rest appear, 
But let us haste from all below. 

T. Kelly. 



For here we have no cc 
seek one to come. 



out we 



But Christian hope, and heavenly prospec 
And earthly cares, and nature's wearin 
Have made the timid pilgrim cease to fe 
And long to end his painful journey here 

John Bztk-ne 




OCTOBER 27. 



SHALL we sing the song of Moses 
Sung by shining angels fair ; 
Shall we join that blessed chorus 

With those dear ones free from care ? 

W. Stillman. 



Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall 
return, and come with singing unto Zion. 

Is. li. ii. 



I've His gude word of promise, that some glad- 

some day the King 
To His ain royal palace His banished hame will 

bring. 



Miss M. A. Lee. 



OCTOBER 28. 



7^0, my soul, be no more sorry— 
^ Look unto that life of glory 
Which the grace of faith regardeth, 
And the tears of love rewardeth. 

Nicholas Breton. 



For our light affliction, which is but for a 
moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding 
and eternal weight of glory. 



May I reach 
That purest heaven — be to other souls 
The cup of strength in some great agony. 

George Eliot 



OCTOBER 29. 



I KNOW a lasting record stands, 
Inscribed against my name, 
Of all this mortal part has wrought, 
Ot ail this thinking soul has thought. 

Hannah F. Gould. 



My record is on high. 



We'll keep a' right an' gude wi 7 in, 
Our wark will then be free fra' sin : 
Upright well step thro' theck and thin, 
Straight on our way. 

Timothy Swan 



OCTOBER 30. 



JF I am right. Thy grace impart 

Still in the right to stay ; 
If I am wrong, O teach my heart 
To find that better way ! 

Alexander Pope 



I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way 
which thou shalt go. 

Ps. xxxa S. 



O gentle God ! 0 let me strive alway 

Still to be wise, and good, and follow Thee ! 

Jens Baggzsz.y. 



OCTOBER Jl. 



ONLY a day, yet forever 
Its impulse shall with thee remain ; 
And the fruit of its labor shall never 
Be riven to ripen again. 

^ b lvv - r & w. Fletchek Johnson. 



Pass the time of your sojourning here in fear. 

i Pet. i. 17- 



O fear not thou to die ! 

Far rather fear to live, for life 
Has thousand snares thy faith to try, 

By peril, pain and strife. ^ 



NOVEMBER 1. 



AH, what is life save just a path, 
A hasty walk for only one, 
And childhood, manhood, age, are fields 
Between us and the setting sun. 

Rev. Edward A. Rani*. 



Ponder the path of thy feet. 



Prov. iv. a6, 



This world, with all its band 

Of clamorous joys and griefs, shall be to me 
A bridge whereon, my pilgrim-staff in hand, 

I cross the stream of Time, O Lord, to Thee 

J. F. ElCHENDORF. 



NOVEMBER 2. 



J^AY hides the stars from thee, 

Sense hides the heaven 
Waiting the contrite soul 
That here has striven. 

Epes Sargent, 

For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die : 
but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the 
deeds of the body, ye shall live. 

Rom. viii. 13. 

Knock off the shackles which thy spirit bind 
To dust and sense, and set at large the mind ! 
Then move in sympathy with God's great whole. 
And be like man at first, a living souL 

Richard Henry Dana. 



NOVEMBER 3. 



/-\ INWARD voice, that must be answered, 
cease, — 

Or help my prayers— or tell my sinking heart 
That the All-Wise is the All-Merciful ! 

Anna Maria Wells. 



Spare me according to the greatness of Thy 
merc y- neh. xiii. 22 . 



But with Thee sweet Mercy stands, 
Sealing pardons, working fear. 

Phineas Fletcher, 



NOVEMBER 4. 



JgLESSED, sure, and blood-bought promise 
Let me drink its sweetness in,— 
He that trusts his soul to Jesus, 
" He that trusteth heaven shall win." 

Mr?. S. A. F. Herbert. 

And this is the promise that He hath prom 
ised us, even eternal life. 

i John ii. 05. 

While we wait, O Jesus, lead us ! 

Patient, faithful, would we be : 
Then— O day of joy !— the fulness 

Of Thy glory we shall see. 

Rev. Ray Palmer. D D 



NOVEMBER $. 



THRICE happy he whose name is writ above 
And doeth good though gaining infamy ; 
Requiteth evil turns with hearty love, 

And recks not what befalls him outwardly. 



Henry More. 



This is my commandment, That ye love one 
another, as I have loved you. 



John xv. 12. 



Teach us that hatred, strife, and wrongs of men 
Have been blessed, kissed, by Thy dear, dy- 
ing Love ; 

Should we not bear them, glad and grateful 
then, 

Knowing they bind us to Thy Life above ? 

S. M. D. 



NOVEMBER 6. 



JF tried beyond my strength to bear, 

I'll ask Thee, God, in fervent prayer, 
To give the aid thus promised me : 
" Fear not ; for I will strengthen thee/' 

Frederick Cleveland. 



Be not dismayed ; for I am thy God : I will 
strengthen thee ; yea, I will help thee. 

Is. xli. 10. 



" Thus while I journey on, my Lord to meet, 
My thoughts and meditations are so sweet, 
Of Him on whom I lean, my strength, my stay. 
I can forget the sorrows of the way." 



NOVEMBER 7. 



-pOR God has marked each sorrowing day 

And numbered every secret tear ; 
And heaven's long age of bliss shall pay 
For all His children suffer here. 

William Cullen Bryant 



God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes , 
and there shall be no more death, neither sor- 
row, nor crying. xxi . . 



God from our eyes all tears hereafter wipes, 
And gives His children kisses then, not stripes 

Herrick. 



NOVEMBER 8. 



y^ND welcome, precious can His Spirit mak 
My little drop of suffering for His sake. 
Father, the cup I drink, the path I take,— 
Ail, all is known to Thee. 

Adelaide L. Newton. 

The cup which my Father hath given me 
shall I not drink it ? 

John xviii. n. 

1 would not cast the thorns away, 
That 'mid my roses grow to-day ; 
Nor have the cup which God doth fill, 
Hold one drop less of seeming ill. 

Kate Cameron. 



NOVEMBER 9. 



BUT Thou hast said, the blood of goats, 
The flesh of rams, I will not prize— 
A contrite heart, and humble thoughts, 
Are mine accepted sacrifice. 



Sir Walter Scott 



The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit : a 
broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt 
not despise. Ps> u _ 



Here is love's offering to my King 
Which in glad sacrifice I bring- 
Here is my heart. 

E. Leidick. 



NOVEMBER 10. 




Y Father, how long ere my life-work 
done ? 



How long ere I fly to Thy breast ? 
How long must I fight ere the victory's won r 
How long must I toil ere I rest ? 

Helen L. Smith. 

I will give thee rest. 

Ex. xxxiii. 14. 

Labor is rest — from the sorrows that greet us, 
Rest from all petty vexations that meet us ; 
Rest from sin promptings that ever entreat us , 
Rest from world sirens that lure us to ill. 

F. S. Osgood. 



NOVEMBER 11. 



MUST still believe, for still we hope, 
That in a world of larger scope, 
What here is faithfully begun 
Will be completed, not undone. 

Arthur Hugh Clough. 



Now we see through a glass darkly, but then 
face to face. 

i Cor. xiii. 12. 



Thou on the Lord rely, 

So, safe, shalt thou go oh ; 
Fix on His work thy steadfast eye, 

So shall thy work be done. 

Paul Gerhardt 



NOVEMBER 12. 



^ND he speaks best, that hath the skill 
When for to hold his peace. 

Lord Thomas Vaux. 



Speak not evil one of another. 

James iv. n, 



If ye canna speak o' good, 

O ! dinna speak at all, 
For there is grief and woe enough 

On this terrestrial ball. 

Presbyterian. 



NOVEMBER 13. 



GIVE hope-victorious, Lord, and I, 
Through all the heavenly land, 
Will praise the grace which bids me trust, 
A Brother's strong right hand ! 

Grace Webster Hinsdale. 



Hope to the end. 



i Pet, i. 13. 



And so for me when sorrows shroud 

The darkened way I go, 
Hope often sets upon the cloud 

A duplicated bow. 



Joel Swaktz, D.D. 



NOVEMBER 14. 



JT is the Soul's prerogative, its fate, 

To shape the outward to its own estate. 
If right itself, then all around is well ; 
If wrong, it makes of all without a hell. 

Richard H. Dana, 

Thorns and snares are in the way of the fro- 
ward ; he that doth keep his soul shall be far 
from them. 

Prov. xxii. 5. 

Nae treasures, nor pleasures, 
Could make us happy lang ; 

The heart aye 's the past aye, 
That makes us right or wrang. 

Burns. 



NOVEMBER 1J. 



A FAN walks in a vain show ; 
^ ^ They know, yet will not know ; 
Sit still when they should go- 
But run for shadows. 

Richard Baxter 

I have spread out my hands all the day unto 
a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that 
was not good, after their own thoughts. 

IS. LXV. 2. 

" Keep me from mine own undoing ; 
Help me turn to Thee when tried ; 
Still my footsteps, Father, viewing, 
Keep me ever at Thy side." 



NOVEMBER 16. 



jTJE stands and knocks, and bids me ope the' 
door ; 

Without He stands, and asks to enter in : 
Why should He seek a shelter sad with sin ? 

William C. Wilkinson. 



Behold, I stand at the door, and knock. 

Rev iii. 20. 



How oft 'mid silent eves, and midnight chimes 
Vainly to us our pleading Lord hath come. 

Paul H Hayne. 



NOVEMBER 17. 



A, 



JIT Thou the Light ? 
To Thee, then, in the sunshine or the cloud, 
Or in my chamber lone, or in the crowd, 
I lift my sight. 



Francis E. Abbott. 



Cause His face to shine upon us. 

Ps. lxvu. I. 



" Thy glorious face 

Is leaning toward me, and its holy light 
Shines in upon my lonely dwelling-place, 
And there is no more night." 



NOVEMBER 18. 



JpRUXE thou thy words, the thoughts control 
That o'er thee swell and throng ; 
They will condense within thy soul 
And change to purpose strong. 

Jchn Henry Newman. 



Bringing into captivity ever}' thought to the 
obedience of Christ. 



2 Cor. x. 



Guard with Thy grace the inlets to my soul. 
And chase away the traitor thoughts within. 
That with temptations parleying stand, and fain 
Would let in sin and folly. 

Rev. W. Calvert. 



NOVEMBER 19. 



f^HOOSE to believe, not see ; sight tempts 
^ the heart 
From sober walking in true Gospel ways. 

John Keble, 



Watch ye, stand fast in the faith. 

i Cor. xvi. 13. 



Tis life's great lesson, that man live to-day, 
And learn to watch and wait— to trust and 
pray ! 

1 Rev. Ray Palmer, D.D. 



NOVEMBER 20. 



^y^TITH the flight of time earth's treasures 

Fading, fleeting, pass away ; 
Nothing here of all our treasures 
Is secure for e'en a day. 

H. P. SWEETSER. 

Charge them that are rich in this world, that 
they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain 
riches. 

i Tim. vi. 17. 

And what are riches to be doted on ? 

Uncertain, fickle, and ensnaring things ; 
They draw men's souls into perdition, 

And when most needed, take them to theii 
wings. 

Michael Wigglesworth. 



NOVEMBER 21. 



T 



RUE conquest is ourselves t' o'ercome, 
True strength to break the tempter': 



snare. 



Philip Doddridge. 



Fight the good fight of faith. 



x Tim. vi. i* 



We little dream of the conflict 
Fought in each human soul, 

And earth knows not of her heroes 
Upon God's Honor Roll. 



Eben E. Rexford. 



NOVEMBER 22. 



JIaTH resignation kissed 
Meekly the rod, — and grateful love adored 
The Hand that blessed ? 

Anna Maria Wells, 



Submit yourselves therefore to God. 

James rv. 7, 



For what is resignation ? 'tis 
Man's weakness understood ; 

And Wisdom grasping with an hand 
Far stronger every good. 

E. Young, 



NOVEMBER 23. 

TOT thankful, when it pleaseth me, 
As if Thy blessings had spare days : 
But such a heart, whose pulse may be 
Thy praise. 

George Herbert. 



N ( 



Let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God 
continually. 



Heb. xiii. 15. 



So does my spirit wait Thy presence now 
To pour Thy praise in quickening life along. 

Jones Very 



NOVEMBER 24. 



/r JpHE quality of mercy is not strained ; 

It droppeth, as the gentle rain from heaven 
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blessed ; 
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes. 

Shakspeare. 

Because I delivered the poor that cried, 
The blessing of Him that was ready to perish 
came upon me : and I caused the widow's heart 
to sing for joy. 

Job xxix. 12, 13. 

Not that which we give, but what we share, 
For the gift without the giver is bare : 
Who bestows himself with his alms feeds three. 
Himself, his hungering neighbor, and me. 

Lowell. 



NOVEMBER 2J. 



TTTE call Thee, God, and wait for Thee, 
* * With longing day by day, 

While Thou art coming all the time 
In natures common way. 

Mrs. M. F. Butts, 



And ye shall know that I am in the midst. 

Joel ii. 27. 



God is ever present, ever felt, 
In the void waste, as in the city full ! 
And where He vital breathes there must be joy 

J. Thomson. 



NOVEMBER 26. 



T THANK Thee for the wing of love, 

Which stirred my worldly nest, 
And for the stormy clouds that drove 
The flutterer to Thy breast. 

Jane Crewdson, 



The God of love and peace shall be with you 

2 Cor. xiii. n. 



O, who could bear life's stormy doom, 

Did not Thy wing of love 
Come brightly wafting through the gloom, 

One peace-branch from above ? 

T. Moore. 



NOVEMBER 27. 



TF I am low and sinful, bring 
■*■ More love where need is rife ; 
Thou knowest what an awful thing 
It is to be a life. 



George Macdonald, 



Let him take hold of my strength, that he 
may make peace with me. Jg ^ g< 



And there's no life so lone and low 
But strength may still be given, 

From narrowest lot on earth to grow 
The straighter up to heaven. 

Gerald Massey. 



NOVEMBER 28. 



/ TpHY light upon our evening pour, — 

So may our souls no sunset see, 
But death to us an open door 
To an eternal morning be ! 

Lyra Catholica. 



The path of the just is as the shining light, 
that shineth more and more unto the perfect 
day. 



Prov. iv. 18. 



Ah, the way is shining clearer, 
As we journey, ever nearer 
To the everlasting home. 

J. Lange 



NOVEMBER 29. 



q^HE Cross and the Crown are so woven in 
A one, 

Can he who refuses the former to bear, 
>Or trusts in aught else but the Saviour alone, 
Expect in that high world the latter to wear? 

E. Porter Dyer. 

Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give 
thee a crown of life. 

Rev. u. io. 



O faithful unto death ! 
A crown of life is ready for the brow, 
And joys thou hast no power to picture now 
Await thy passing breath. 

Mrs. M S Corning. 



NOVEMBER $o. 



HY do we heap huge mounds of years 
Before us and behind. 
And scorn the little days that pass 
Like angels on the wind ? 

Mrs. D. M. Craik. 

For who hath despised the day of small 
ings ? 

Zech. iv. -tq. 

Only a day, nor yet ever 

Its moments forgotten shall be, 

Till bubbles of time's stream forever 
Are whelmed in eternity's sea. 

W. Fletcher Johnson, 




DECEMBER 1. 



T7NOW ye the way— the rugged path ol 
^ thorns ? 

His lagging progress there the traveler mourns ; 
He faints, he sinks— from dust he cries to God : 
" Relieve me, Father, from the weary road !" 

Claus Hanns. 

O Lord, I know that the way of man is not 
in himself: it is not in man that walketh to 
direct his steps. 

L Jer. x. 23. 

Father ! Thou must lead, 
Do Thou then breathe such thoughts into my 
mind 

By which such virtue may in me be bred, 
That in Thy holy footsteps I may tread. 

Michael Angelo 



DECEMBER 2. 



J KNOW not if dark or bright 

Shall be my lot ; 
If that wherein my hopes delight 

Be best or not. 

Dean of Canterbury. 



Then shall we know, if we follow on to know 
the Lord. 

Hosea vi. 3. 



Ah ! surely God knows best. 

Our sight is short ; faith trusts to Him the rest, 

Rebecca S. Palfrey. 



DECEMBER 3. 



IV TOR dare to blame God's gifts for incom 
pleteness ; 

In that want their beauty lies : they roll 
Toward some infinite depth of love and sweet 
ness, 

Bearing onward man's reluctant soul. 

Adelaide A. Procter. 

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wis- 
dom and knowledge of God ! how unsearchable 
are His judgments, and His ways past finding 
out. 

Rom, xi. 33 

Know His love in full completeness, 
Feel the measure of thy weakness ; 
If He wound thy spirit sore, 

Trust Him more. 

S. D. Carter. 



DECEMBER 4. 



OVE shall answer the love that is given, 
Nor stint nor stay shall be there, nor self- 
He shall show us, the Lord of Heaven, 
Love that is perfect, Himself, Himself. 

S. E. L. C. 

If God so loved us, we ought also to love one 
another. 

i John iv. n 

Let each love all, and all be free, receiving as 

they give ; 

Lord ! Jesus died for Love and Thee ! So let 
Thy children live ! 

Ebenezer Elliot. 



DECEMBER J. 



TN our meagre speech we ask Him, and He 

answers in His own ; 
Vast beyond our thought the blessing that we 

blindly judge is none. 

J J Lucy Larcom. 



Why do ye not understand my speech ? even 
because ye cannot hear my word. 

J John vin. 43 



Too oft we cannot hear Thee speak, 
So loud our voices and our prayers, 

While to the patient and the meek 
The gate Thou openest unawares ! 

Julia C. K. Dow. 



DECEMBER 6. 



' ^p iS sweet t0 know th at He is near, 
A present help in trouble's hour. 
Our Great High-Priest, whose heart can feel 
Our sorrows which to Him appeal. 

Rev. E, P, Dyer, 



God is our refuge and strength, a very present 
help in trouble. 

Ps. ilvi. i. 



A safe stronghold our God is still, 
A trusty shield and weapon ; 

He'll keep us clear from all the ill 
That hath us now o'ertaken. 

Martin Luther 



DECEMBER 7. 



OD, when Thine eye alone 
That counts eternity 
Sums my short annals from the spotted roll 
Blot all my sins ! Receive my contrite soul. 

Rev. Theron Brown. 



According unto the multitude of Thy tender 
mercies blot out my trangressions. 



When the full light of Heavenly day 
Reveals my sins in dread array, 
Say Thou hast washed thern all away ; 
Oh, say Thou plead'st for me ! 

Charlotte Elliott. 



DECEMBER 8. 



|^yUTY be thy polar guide — 

Do the right whate'er betide ! 
Haste not ! rest not ! conflicts past, 
God shall crown thy work at last. 

From the German 

The night cometh, when no man can work. 

John ix. 4. 

" For the work that ye must do 
Before the coming of death 
There remaineth, O faithful few, 
But a little while," He saith. 

Washington Gladden 



DECEMBER 9. 



NOTHING great is lightly won, 
Nothing won is lost,— 
Every good deed, nobly done, 
Will repay the cost. 

Mrs. Sarah T. Bolton. 



A doer of the work, this man shall be blessed 
a his deed. James L 25 . 



I count this thing to be grandly true : 
That a noble deed is a step toward God, 
Lifting the soul from the common clod 

To a purer air and a broader view. 

J. G. Holland- 



DECEMBER 10. 



" T^CHO not an angry word ; 
Let it pass ! 
Think how often you have erred , 
Let it pass." 

There is that speaketh like the piercings of a 
sword : but the tongue of the wise is health. 

Prov. aril. 18. 

How many go forth at morning 

Who never come home at night ! 
And hearts have broken for harsh words spoken, 

That sorrow can never set right. 

Margaret E. Sangster. 



DECEMBER 11. 



E are God's temples, beautiful within, 
When prayer and holy purpose con- 



For the temple of God is holy, which temple 

y e are « x Co*, m. i 7 . 

When the soul to sin hath died, 
True and beautiful and sound, 

Then all earth is sanctified ; 
Up springs paradise around. 




quer sin. 



Prof. Edv/ard North. 



DECEA'IBER 12. 



^^^HEN we behold Thy bleeding wounds, . 

And the rough way that Thou hast trod, 
Make us to hate the load of sin 
That lay so heavy on our God. 

William W. How, 

Ye are bought with a price. 

i Cor. vi, 20. 



And let not all the pains and toil be wasted, 
Spent on my youth by saints now gone to rest ; 

Nor that deep sorrow my Redeemer tasted, 
When on His soul the guilt of man was pressed. 

James Freeman Clarke. 



DECEMBER 13. 



qpilE saint that wears heaven's brightest 
^ crown 

In deepest adoration bends ; 
The weight of glory bows him down 
Then most, when most his soul ascends. 

Montgomery, 



He that humbleth himself shall be exalted. 

Luke xviii. 14. 



Lord, thrust me deeper into dust 

That Thou mayest raise me with the just ! 

Henry More. 



DECEMBER 14 



DEAR daily bread, and the thought for 
no more ! 

The not knowing whence, that is infinite store! 
The grand peradventure it is to be poor, 
Through sureness of waiting on Him who is 
sure ! 

Adeline D. T. Whitney. 

He shall deliver the needy when he crieth ; 
the poor also, and him that hath no helper. 

Ps. lxxii. 12. 

The smoke ascends 
To heaven as lightly from the cottage hearth 
As from the haughty palace. 

Wordsworth. 



DECEMBER 1J: 



nTHOUGH my sin against me cried, 

Thou didst clear me ; 
And alone when they replied, 
Thou didst hear me. 



Herbert 



The Lord is long-suffering, and of great mercy 
forgiving iniquity and transgression. 



Num. xiv. 18. 



Lord, many times I am aweary quite 

Of mine own self, my sin, my vanity ; 
Yet be not Thou, or I am lost outright, 
Weary of me. 



R. C. Trench. 



DECEMBER 16. 



^ND Heaven is kind to the faithful heart ; 
And if we are patient, and brave, and 
calm, 

Our fruits will last though our flowers depart. 

Miss Mulock. 

Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the pre- 
cious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience 
for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. 
Be ye also patient. 

James v. 7, 8. 

Well, God loves patience ! Souls that dwell in 
stillness, 

Doing the little things, or resting quite, 
May just as perfectly fulfill their mission, 
Be just as useful in the Father's sight. 

H. W. B. 



DECEMBER 17. 



CHRISTIAN soldier S shouldst thou rue 



^ Life and its toils, as others do- 
Wear a sad frown from day to day, 



Let the righteous be glad ; let them rejoice 
beforf God ; yea, let them exceedingly rejoice. 



A life of worry, want, and wear, 
A life of discord, doubt, and care, 
I may not, will not live on earth — 
It ill becomes the second birth 
Of God's own child. 




And garb thy soul in hodden-gray ? 



Paul H. Hayne. 



Ps. Ixviii 3. 



Rev. John Parker. 



DECEMBER 18. 



f \ GOD ! I thank Thee, Thou hast sent 

Thyself in Thy beloved Son ; 
Now I am blest and all content, 
My weary search forever done. 

Dr. Llewellyn D. Bevan. 

We also joy in God, through our Lord Jesus 
Christ, by whom w r e have now received the 
atonement. 

Rom. v. ix. 



And our nature mortal 

Did the King put on, 
Standing in the portal, 

Our true champion. 

Petrvs Venerabilis. 



DECEMBER 19. 



T7ATHER ! replenish with Thy grace 

This longing heart of mine, 
Make it Thy quiet dwelling-place, 
Thy sacred inmost shrine ! 

Angelus Silesius. 



Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, 
and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you ? 

i Cor. iii. 16. 



O Father ! grant Thy love divine 

To make these mystic temples Thine ! 

Oliver Wendell Holmes. 



DECEMBER 20. 



J^)UT O, the exceeding grace 

Of highest God, that loves His creatures so. 
And all His works with mercy doth embrace, 
That blessed angels He sends to and fro. 

Spenser. 

Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth 
to minister for them who shall be heirs of salva- 
tion ? 

Hebrews i. 14. 

Are the angels never impatient 
That we are so weak and slow, 

So dull to their guiding touches, 
So deaf to the whispers low ? 

Susan Coolidge. 



DECEMBER 21. 



T ET goodness and mercy, my bountiful God, 
^ Still follow my steps till I meet Thee 
above ; 

I seek — by Thy path which my forefathers trod, 
Through the land of their sojourn— Thy king- 



The Lord our God be with us, as He was 
with our fathers : let Him not leave us, nor for- 
sake us. 




dom of love. 



Montgomery. 



i Kings viii. 57. 



O Love Divine ! our footsteps lead 

In paths our fathers trod ; 
Conduct us to Thy heaven at length, 
With them to rest in God. 



Rev. Samuel Wolcott, D.D 



DECEMBER 22. 



J^IM is the light of vanished years 
In the glory yet to come. 

Prof. Wilson. 



The sufferings of this present time are not 
worthy to be compared with the glory which 
shall be revealed in us. 



Rom. viii. 18. 



Glorious will that city be, 
Full of deep tranquillity, 
Light and peace from end to end. 

Thomas a Kempis. 



DECEMBER 23, 



OUT hearts are changeful, and God knows 
■ How oft our love the feebler grows 
Through years with blessings filled. 

S. B. Leverich. 

Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in 
reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in dis- 
tresses" for Christ's sake. 

2 Cor. xii. 10. 



The field can never bear its fruits, 
Save winter storm and freeze ; 

Man's goodness withers at its roots 
In days of constant ease. 

Paul Gerhardt 



DECEMBER 24. 



J JIi who has framed and brought us hither 
Holds in His hands tne whence and 
whither. 

Francis T. Palgrave. 



I am God, and there is none like me, Declar- 
ing the end from the beginning; 

Is. xlvi. 9, 10. 



And so, with simple faith, we keep 
Our course toward the unknown deep, 
With childlike trust in Him who knows 
From whence life comes and whither goes. 

H. H. Browne. 



DECEMBER 2J. 



TT is His birthday— His, the only One 

Who ever made life's meaning wholly plain , 
Dawn is He to our night ! 

Lucy Laecom. 



For unto you is born this day in the city of 
David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. 

Luke ii. 11. 



No longer vain 
And purposeless our onward struggling years : 
The hope He bringeth overfloods our fears. 

Lucy Larcom. 



DECEMBER 26. 



/'AH, what shall I give to the Saviour 
For what He hath given for me ? 
I'll give Him the gift of an earnest life, 
Of a heart that is loving and free from strife, 

Eva M. Tappan. 



Give me thine heart. 

Prov. xxiii. 26. 



Here is my heart — my God, I give it Thee : 
I heard Thee call and say — 
" Not to the world, My child, but unto Me." 
I heard and will obey. 

E. Leidick. 



DECEMBER 27. 



"VTES, finish all thy work, then rest ; 

Till then, rest never ; 
The rest prepared for thee by God 
Is rest forever. 

E. S, Miller. 



There remaineth therefore a rest to the peo- 
pie of God. 

Heb. iv. 9. 



Reward of grace how wondrous ! 
Short toil, eternal rest ! 

Saint Bernard. 



DECEMBER 28. 



If time past 
And time possest both pain us, what can please t 
That which the Deity to please ordained, 
Time used / 

Young. 

Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it 
with thy might ; for there is no work, nor de- 
vice, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, 
whither thou goest. 

Eccles. ix. 10. 

" My years crowd sail, and pass away 
Before me to eternity ; 
How poorly freighted, Lord, are they 
With acts of faith and love to Thee ! M 



DECEMBER 29. 



]\ FY fleeting years, though short and few, 
^ ^ I can, and will, lay at His feet, 
And serve Him while my pulses beat. 

Mrs. Emily C. Spear. 



Behold, Thou hast made my days as an han 
breadth ; and mine age is as nothing before 
Thee. 



Ps. xxxix. 



Just to follow hour by hour 

As He leadeth ; 
Just to draw the moment's power 

As it needeth. 

Frances P.idley Hayergal. 



DECEMBER 30. 



JF life be long, I will be glad, 

That I may long obey ; 
If short, yet why should I be sad 
To soar to endless day ? 

Richard Baxter 

All the days of my appointed time will I vvai 
till my change come. 

Job xiv. 14. 

I would not stay the years that wing, 

Howe'er my lot be cast, 
Nor say, O sun, look back, and brino- 

One day from out the past. 

Hezeki.*h Butte rworth. 



DECEMBER 31. 



1\ TY future from my past unlinking, 
^ ^ Each dying year untwines the spell ; 
The visible is swiftly sinking, 
Uprises the invisible. 

HORATIUS BONAR. 



Thou knowest not what a day may bring 
forth. 

Peov. XXV 11. I. 



I stand to-night on the threshold 

Of a strange mysterious door, 
That silently opes from the year just gone 

To the one that lies before. 



F. j. D. 



Between tf)e Lights. 



Thoughts for the Quiet Hour. 
Compiled and Arranged by 

fating 2k %mg. 

o, cloth, 444 pages, $1.75; S 2mo, white cloth, gilt 
edges, Italian style, $2.50. 



A religious day-book of extraordinary quality, both for its 
literature and its broad Christianity. Its value is not tran- 
sient, nor is its possession more useful at the beginning of a 
year than at any other point in its course. For each day a 
Bible passage, a bit of prose and a poem, at such length as 
to escape scrappiness, so that 425 octavo pages are filled, and 
an index is provided. It is in every respect superior to other 
compilations of the sort that we remember ; it may be said 
that it contains scarcely anything which is not well worth 
reading for its thought as well as its devotion; and this is 
rare praise for a work whose purpose is devotion . . . The^ 
character of the utterances chosen is in a measure indicated 
by the title of the book; it is that of trust, courage, hope, 
in repose on the unshakable sustainment of God's love! 
There is no supine ease in the quiet hour; it is the rest of 
the laborer, the pause of the soldier ; the task will be taken 
up, the march or the battle will be resumed, with a higher 
spirit and a sterner strength, because of the communion with 
divine help. — Springfield Republican. 



#nson ax j?, Maii&oiplj anD Company 

182 JFtftf) lunnz, Mm gortu 



€Z)c Ci)angcts €m$> anD Ofytx 



Afetzj Enlarged Edition. 

l6mo, cloth, plain edges, $1,00; l6mo, cloth, gilt 
edges, $ 1 .25. 



" A wide and sympathetic acquaintance with the 
facts of human experience, a trained literary judg- 
ment, and a strong religious faith have combined to 
bring together here many loving thoughts, many de- 
vout aspirations, many melodious evidences of a 
living faith, in the consolations of genuine religion." 

A collection of the best religious poetry of our 
time. — Presbyterian. 

Notwithstanding many compilations of religious 
poetry have been made since this collection was 
published, "'The Changed Cross" still holds its 
conspicuous place as the most popular of them all. 
Gazette. 



anson B>« §. KanOoIpl) anD Company 

132 fiftjj Draft* fieru gorfe. 



Cije ^aDotu of t^e Boc6, aim 



/fe Ef/far 0/ Changed Cross/' 

l6mo, cloth, plain edges, $1.00; !6mo a cloth, gilt 
edges, $ 1 .25. 



We have no words to praise this selection, ex- 
cept to say it is the choicest compilation, both in 
regard to devotional spirit and poetic quality, of 
which we know extant. . . . The modern writers have 
their choicest pieces gathered here, — those exquisite 
performances which float unnamed through the news- 
papers, and which are often the written efflorescence 
of fine and unknown lives. — Chicago Republican. 



Znson D* j% lianfcolpij and Company 

182 Mil 9tomtu, J3cto fmk. 



C^c Chamber of peace* anD Otljcr 

Bj; editor of ei The Changed Cross." 

l6mo, cloth, plain edges, $1.00; IGmo, cloth, giit 
edges, $ I .25. 



" These are genuine poems, which speak to the 
deeper consciousness of the soul. They strike many 
chords, and have a message for the heart in a great 
variety of moods. There is not one among them 
all but will come to the spirit with a precious min- 
istry if it is allowed to act freely on the reader. 
Selected with great care and rare judgment, and 
will prove a helpful daily companion." 



3nson £>♦ IF* HanSolplj anD Company 
182 ftftl; astute, Bm pork* 



Zl)t Opiate of Odd, and Otijcr 

Si' editor of "The Changed Cross/' 

l6mo, cloth, plain edges, $1.00; [S:rio, cloth, gilt 
edges, $ I ,25. 



This little volume is a treasure-house into which 
are packed rich consolations, thoughts of peace and 
rest and submission and consecration and sacrifice, 
poems of precious promise to the tried and tempted. 
— strong, victorious hymns of conquest, psalms of 
prayer and praise and trust ... A choicer or more 
acceptable gift would be hard to find. — The Baptist 
Weekly. 

For a simple gift which brings with it an un- 
dying fragrance of piety and genius combined, we 
heartily commend it. — Christian Intelligencer. 



Alison D- j\ HanDolptj anD Company 

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$eace : €f)c Cranquti l^out* 

fitting ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ Conftiung* 

Foz/r dainty pocket volumes of Religious Verse. 

In cloth, red edges, in case, $1.40; Ivorine, gilt edges, in 
cases, $2.00; Sold separately, in cloth, at 35 cents, 
or Ivorine, at 50 cents. 



"In these four miniature volumes of poetry will 
be found a collection of short but complete poems, 
the character of which is indicated by the titles. 
They are small enough to be carried in the pocket, 
and are as valuable as they are pretty." 

" Representative in character, and culled from the 
choicest religious poetry to be found in the columns 
of our religious paper. The editor has shown rare 
taste and judgment in the selections." 



Biieon 2D* IF* KanDolptf anD Company 

182 Jtftf) Syenite, Beta govfe* 



familiar frmtt^ 



By the Editor of " The Changed Cross." 

24mo, cloth, 75 cents. 



Here the lover of the dear old hymns that have 
voiced the experience and sung themselves into the 
hearts of God's children will find the choicest and 
best. Necessarily all are not included ; but mGst of 
the best hymns from many hymnals are to be found 
in the pages of this little volume, which is one of the 
best of devotional books, and should be kept side 
by side with one's Bible. 



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